Worth Something
by CharmedMummy
Summary: High school can be a pain, especially for the lesser son of a Charmed One, but maybe he will ge the chance to prove that he's worth something. Includes canon up until midSeason 7, so Leo has never been an Avatar, etc. etc. Rated T for some language.
1. One of those days

The young man held the ice pack to his eye. He was not relishing having to talk about this one at home. It wasn't that he feared ridicule, though there would definitely be some good-natured teasing when they found out. No, it was his own reluctance to admit weakness that made him think about alternatives. 

If only...but, no. As much as he would like to throw Gary into a wall, or at the very least turn him into a newt or something, he couldn't. It just wasn't in him, and neither had he been brought up that way.

He sighed as he adjusted the ice pack and leaned his head back against the wall in the high school nurse's office. Usually Gary and the Goats, as he liked to call them, for Gary's pack had the IQ of the small animals, confined their acts to well-placed verbal barbs and the occasional shove into the lockers or whatever else was handy. Today Gary made a rare escalation of his normal antics by making a particularly hard pass at him when he wasn't even looking. The warning shout from someone helped make it a shot to the eye, but the other option might have been to be knocked out cold. He was slightly surprised by the event. Gary and his minions usually didn't dare take it any further for fear of incurring the wrath of his older brother, but what they didn't know is if that happened, the young man would be ten times more mortified and humiliated than he ever was now.

For heaven's sake, he was a sophomore in high school, he didn't need his older brother to step in and defend him anymore. Or his mother, father, and aunts for that matter. No, he could take care of himself, and he wished his family would just leave him alone and concentrate their worries on the younger members of the family. Compared to some of them, he shouldn't even be a blip on their radar.

With only one eye, the young man looked out the window of the nurse's office and saw her walking by. He knew he was just a high school boy without any kind of experience in these matters, but to him she was perfect. To him, she was the only reason he had for continuing on in this pointless "normal" existence when he could be doing more meaningful tasks somewhere else. More meaningful to him at least. For him, reading, writing and arithmetic weren't all that important for what he planned on doing with his life, unless it meant reading the Book of Shadows, writing the latest spell, or calculating the number of adversaries he had left to kill.

But she did give him that reason to continue on here. And someday, someday when he finally filled out like he hoped he would, he would talk to her. He didn't even think about a goal as lofty as asking her out at this point. Just talking to her would be enough.

But for now he needed to banish thoughts of her from his mind. He had an important practice session with Wyatt this afternoon, and if he was too unfocused his older brother would get disgusted and give up on him and then he would never get the experience that he needed. With that, Chris Halliwell tossed the used up ice pack into the trash and headed out of the nurse's office, determined to work hard towards making his life worth something.


	2. Same old, same old

Wyatt blocked his brother's thrust with the sword and the two backed up to reassess one another. He was impressed that Chris was actually making him focus on the match instead of just going on automatic like he usually did. Wyatt was much more skilled than his younger brother, but today Chris was actually giving him something of a challenge, and he suspected it had something to do with the black eye he was sporting. 

Chris came at him again, but this time it was easier to block him. Wyatt recognized the signs of fatigue in the younger man, even if Chris himself didn't, and decided to call an end to their practice. It wouldn't do for Chris to make a mistake and for Wyatt to inadvertently hurt his brother with the sword. He could heal Chris, had in fact done it in the past, but their father was always aware of whenever anyone in their family was hurt even a little, and the last time it happened he got one of the longest lectures of his life from his mother. Wyatt dropped his sword and swiped at the sweat on his brow. "Good practice, Chris, but we gotta quit. I have a date with Kelly tonight and I need to shower before I pick her up."

Chris opened his mouth to argue, but decided against it. There would be no point considering Wyatt would never consider breaking a date with the blond cheerleader for anything short of a life or death situation involving someone in the family. "Okay. I promised Mom I would watch the twins anyway so that she and Dad could have that night alone that got interrupted last week when the Osmonds attacked."

Wyatt snorted both because family plans being interrupted was nothing new and because he never knew what nickname Chris would come up with next for just about anything. The Osmonds was a pretty a good one for the singing brother and sister demons that had the misfortune of crossing paths with the twins. Their singing was definitely not a little country or rock n' roll, and was usually used to stun prey so the demons could make their kill. However, it had only served to annoy the girls, and it definitely ticked off Leo and Piper who were about the worst parents to deal with. Wyatt personally thought the demons got off easy compared to the girls who had had to endure one of the longest parental lectures to date, which was impressive considering their history. For being only twelve, the two girls were racking up quite a record for causing mayhem, though walking in a part of town known for demon activity after having been dropped off by their parents at the mall was a bit reckless even for them.

Wyatt pulled on his white t-shirt. "What did Mom have to give you to make you agree to that?" Neither one of them readily agreed to keeping an eye on the twelve-year olds without some kind of incentive.

Chris grinned. "Mom's going to replenish the potions I spilled the other day instead of making me do it."

Wyatt let out a whistle. "Good one." Chris had tried making his turn doing the dishes go faster by using his telekinesis and had instead crashed a dish into the wrong shelf, breaking around a dozen bottles of potions that would have taken him days to restock, especially if he had to make them to Mom's standards. "That'll teach you to use your powers for personal gain."

"No, it'll teach me to work on my aim," Chris shot back, "and don't talk to me about personal gain, Wyatt. I know you orb to meet Kelly when you're going to be late and I know she should have fallen the other day at the basketball game when that one girl missed her foot."

Wyatt shrugged, unconcerned. "It's not personal gain to make sure an innocent doesn't fall and break her neck. As for the orbing, I don't think the Elders are going to say anything. Not after I killed that demon in Canada awhile back." He sheathed Excalibur, the sword he had gotten so many years ago, but only within the last few years been allowed by his parents to use, and hung it back on the wall. "Have fun with the twins," he shot over his shoulder as he headed for the shower.

Chris sheathed his own sword, a decent one his parents had gotten him for his last birthday, though obviously nowhere near the craftsmanship of Excalibur. He wiped his forehead with a towel, looking around the basement which had long ago been remodeled into two rooms, one a practice room, another a bedroom for both Chris and Wyatt and wondered if he would ever be called on by the Elders to help out with demonic problems like Wyatt occasionally was. He snorted. Yeah, sure, when pigs flew.

* * *

"They are to do their homework and eat dinner, but nothing else. No TV, no phone, no computer, no anything." 

"Yes, Mom." Chris tried not to sound impatient. Sometimes his mother could be just a little exasperating.

"Let's go hon, we're going to miss our reservation." Leo gently tried to steer his wife towards the door before she could think of something else to instruct their younger son about. "Chris can handle the twins for one night."

"It's not his handling that worries me. It's their penchant for getting into trouble that does." Chris heard the end of her statement before he closed the front door behind them and couldn't disagree with her assessment. The twins did seem to find new and interesting ways to give their parents gray hair every week, which was an accomplishment since their parents were both battle-tested many times over, and their father was technically dead.

Chris walked into the kitchen to find the twins working on what looked to be math and inwardly sighed. Would his parents ever see him as more than a baby-sitter? Surely he was worth something more than that. Someday, somehow he would prove himself.

"If you're going to be melancholy, could you at least go upstairs? I can't study if you give me a headache." Chris repressed the urge the stoop to the girls level and stick out his tongue. Why Patty had to inherit some empathic abilities, whether from her witch or whitelighter side nobody was sure, was a constant source of wonder to Chris. It had to be one of the most annoying powers for a younger sister to have. He picked up his book bag off the floor and headed for his desk in the basement. He figured if they tried anything too bad he would be able to hear it.

The girls smiled at each other after he left the room. Chris was so easy to manipulate sometimes.


	3. Blamed again

Chris glanced at his watch and figured it was about time he made dinner. He closed his book and trudged back upstairs. "Hey, Twinkies, what do you want for dinner? I could..." He trailed off as he noticed that the kitchen was empty. "Patty? Prue?" He left the kitchen and glanced into all of the downstairs rooms.

He figured they had just gone upstairs to their room, but for some reason he didn't think so. Muttering under his breath about annoying little sisters, he climbed the stairs to the second floor, knocked on his sisters' door, and opened it. "Patty? Prue?" When he didn't find them there, he really got worried. He quickly checked the rest of the second floor rooms and the attic, feelings of worry for his sisters and anger at them for doing something that would probably get him in trouble warring for dominance in his mind.

Coming back to the kitchen after being unable to find the twins anywhere in the manor, Chris debated what to do. He wished he could sense where his sisters were, but he had not developed that sense very well, if he had it at all. To be honest, he hadn't worried about that ability, not deeming it of much importance. However, at this particular moment he could understand why sensing had its place and could be just as important sometimes as telekinesis and orbing.

But there was no point dwelling on what he couldn't do right now. He had three options he could think of. One, he could call for his dad and have his parents come home, but he was unwilling to do that until absolutely necessary. Two, he could call next door to the house that his aunts' families shared and see if they could help, but that was almost equally distasteful to Chris as they would probably want to call Piper and Leo anyway. Parents tended to stick together on things like that. No, Chris' only option seemed to call his older brother who had possessed the foresight to consider sensing important enough to develop.

Scratch that, Wyatt had never had to develop anything in his life. Everything just came naturally to him. That was why Wyatt was called on by higher powers, even if he was only eighteen, and why Chris was only known as Wyatt's younger brother, or even better, a Charmed Ones brat. When would he ever be worthy enough to at least be known by his own name?

Annoyed at himself, Chris thrust the self-pitying thoughts from his mind. Now was not the time to ruminate on his pathetic existence when his sisters could have orbed to places he didn't even want to think about. "Wyatt? I know you can hear me, and I need you to come home. It's about the twins." Almost before he had finished talking, Wyatt had orbed into the room in front of him. "Wow, that was fast even for you."

"Think about it, Chris. I'm always aware of where everyone in the family is, even if I do normally shove that knowledge to the back of my mind, so when the twins dropped off the radar, I knew something was up and started making my excuses long before you called for me."

Chris didn't know which piece of information he wanted to latch onto first, the fact that the twins had disappeared, even from Wyatt, or that his older brother was constantly aware of where he was all of the time. He decided to forgo the personal angle for the moment, figuring he didn't want to know anyway. "Wait, so the twins went to the underworld? That's a bit brazen, even for them."

Wyatt walked over to the table, touching various items. "The underworld, or any number of other places where there are fields in place to block sensing. If I can only..." Wyatt paused for a moment, then swore under his breath. "Those little...Dad, sorry to interrupt, but you and Mom might want to come home. The twins are at it again."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Chris said, holding up his hand, "why in the world are you calling Mom and Dad already?"

"Because I was able to get a premonition and found out what the girls planned to do, that's what." Wyatt walked to the cupboards, opened one up, and began to pull out a few random potions.

Chris fought down the irritation he always felt at any reminder that Wyatt seemed to possess just about any power that existed. "What did the premonition tell you?"

"I'll wait until Mom and Dad get here. I'd rather only tell it once." That didn't take long, as Piper and Leo appeared only moments later. They had experience with having to make quick exits.

"Chris, how could you let this happen?" Piper started off, but Leo stepped in. "Piper, honey, this isn't the time. We both know this isn't Chris' fault and we need to focus on the twins right now." Leo turned to his oldest child. "Where did they go?"

Chris was so sullen at his mother's immediate attack on him that he almost missed Wyatt's reply. "I got a piece of the past, Patty and Prue making plans to get something special for Mom's birthday, and then a piece of the future, the twins being surrounded by unsavory types in a demonic marketplace. That was probably why they were in that part of town last week where you two found them, looking for the entrance to the marketplace."

"What could they possibly...oh no, they must have heard me talking to Phoebe about that rare potion ingredient that I've been wanting for awhile. Okay, this may get messy. Wyatt, you follow your father and I as we orb to where we found the twins last week and we'll go from there. Leo, you'll orb the twins home and keep them there once we find them while Wyatt and I handle anything that needs handling."

"What about me?" Chris couldn't help but asking.

"You are to stay here," Piper said in the tone that her children knew meant she was dead serious. "We will discuss your shirking of your responsibilities later." With that they were gone, and once again Chris was left behind. He slammed his fist into the wall, enough to sting without breaking anything. How in the world could his mother see this situation as his fault? And when was everyone going to realize that he was worth something in a fight? He could handle himself, had handled himself countless times. One of these days he was going to stop getting those pity looks from his older brother and would be allowed to walk across the proverbial street without holding his mother's hand.


	4. Not made of glass

Chris just paced around the kitchen, not knowing what else to do. He didn't know how long he had been pacing when his father orbed in, holding each sister by an arm. "All three of you stay right here while I go back to help your mother and brother," was all Leo said in the authoritative Elder voice he hardly ever used with his children and then he was gone again.

Chris couldn't contain himself. "What in the heck did you two think you were doing??"

Prue, always the more confrontational of the two, immediately responded. "It was no big deal. If that creep hadn't bothered us, we would have gotten Mom's birthday present and been home before you ever missed us."

"Oh, and so because you decided it was no big deal, now I have to get into trouble? Mom's mad at me and I didn't do anything wrong!"

Prue stepped up to her older brother. "Don't you dare get all high and mighty with me Chris-"

"STOP!" Patty hugged herself and sat down in a chair. "Please, don't yell at each other. I can't take it right now."

Prue sat down in a chair next to her sister and hugged her, stroking her hair and telling her it would be okay. Chris felt bad about yelling at them. They deserved it, but Patty had yet to get a firm control over her emphatic abilities and after having gone through what was probably a bit of a traumatic experience, it probably didn't help to have Prue and him involved in a highly emotional fight. Deciding to offer a kind of truce, he walked over to the cupboards. "I'll make you guys some tea."

By the time he had the water on the burner, his parents and Wyatt were back. Piper immediately knelt in front of her daughters. "Are you two okay?"

"I'm sorry Mom," Patty sobbed, "we were only trying to get you a good birthday present to make up for all the stuff we do. We didn't think something like this could happen, honest."

"It's my fault, Mom," Prue said, quickly moving to shift blame from her sister. "Patty didn't want to go after what happened last week, but I convinced her that it would be okay. I'm sorry Mom."

Piper hugged the girls. "We'll talk tomorrow after school. For now, just go up to bed. Dad and I will be up to kiss you goodnight in a few minutes, okay?" The girls nodded and, holding hands, left the kitchen headed for their bedroom.

Piper turned to the younger of her two sons. "As for you, Chris-"

"Me? What did I do wrong? All I did was go downstairs to do my homework at my desk!"

"And left your sisters unattended. You know perfectly well what kind of trouble they like to get into and should have kept an eye on them."

"You didn't tell me I had to be in the same room with them at all times when you left. Am I expected to read your mind now?" Chris knew he was treading on thin ice, but he couldn't help it.

"Don't you dare talk to your mother that way," Leo told him. He had been about to try to stem Piper's tide since she was probably just taking her fear for the twins out on the closest target, but disrespect was something Leo would not allow.

"This is not fair! Am I the family whipping boy now? Screw you!" And with that Chris orbed out.

"He just went downstairs to his room," Leo reassured his wife when she looked concerned over where Chris may have gone. The tea kettle, forgotten in the chaos, started to shrill loudly and Leo took it off the burner and shut off the stove. "You know, Piper, it really wasn't his fault at all. We've never expected him or Wyatt or anyone else for that matter to stay in the same room as the girls every moment. How could he anticipate that they would do something like this?"

"I know, I know," Piper said, sitting down in a chair and, leaning an elbow on the table, put her head in her hand. "I didn't mean to blow up at him like that. I just felt like I needed to let off some steam, but the girls looked so overwrought that I couldn't do it to them right now, so I let it out on Chris." She sighed. "Am I a horrible mother?"

"Of course not," Wyatt said, leaning back against the sink with both hands braced on either side of him. "Even if you're a witch, you're still human and even great mothers make mistakes."

Leo walked up behind his wife and rubbed her shoulders. "Maybe next time you don't have a good target for your frustration you could let me know and I'll orb you down to a mild section of the underworld and you can blow up a few random demons to make yourself feel better." Piper snorted and put her hands up to grip Leo's and gave him a weak smile. He'd made similar offers before and she had occasionally thought about taking him up on it. Maybe someday she would.

Wyatt took a deep breath before he spoke next. He didn't know quite how his next words would be received. "By the way, maybe you guys should rethink how you're treating Chris these days. He's not made of glass, but if you keep handling him like he is, refusing to let him help out in situations like this, he's going to back farther and farther away from the family because he'll feel like he's not pulling his own weight, like he's not worth something to this family." Wyatt was somewhat surprised when his parents didn't object to his interpretation of the current situation and instead just gave each other meaningful looks.

"Thanks, Wyatt, we'll think about it," his father told him, "but for now you should go do your homework before bed. You still have school tomorrow."

Wyatt raised an eyebrow, but headed for the basement without complaint. It was kind of funny how no matter how much other magical beings looked to Wyatt for help and respected him, his parents still saw him as a kid for the most part. He supposed they would always see him as their son first, their little boy, but unlike Chris, it didn't really bother him. That was probably because for Wyatt, family members were the only ones who could get away with such treatment. Chris didn't have that luxury.


	5. Monsoon season

Chris slammed his locker door shut. Why did it always seem like it didn't just pour when it rained for him, it freaking monsooned. His parents were all over him for something that wasn't even his fault, and their mood probably wasn't helped by the way he snuck out of the house that morning so he wouldn't have to see them before school.

And now, to add on top of all that, he had gotten a D on his Pre-Calc test. Usually he at least pulled a B, but she had been wearing that top that bordered on being inappropriate for school and brought out the color in her eyes, and when she wore that top, Chris had a hard time remembering his name, let alone some pointless Calculus formulas. Not that he would ever tell his parents that.

He leaned his forehead against the cool metal of the locker, then, resolving to get through his last class without dwelling on his personal problems, he turned quickly towards his last class and abruptly came to a stop when he ran into a girl he didn't remember ever seeing before and knocked everything she was holding to the ground.

And of course, because his life was just one big cliché, as he mumbled his apologies and knelt to help the girl pick up her things, he knocked his head quite forcefully against hers. Now, on top of the black eye he was already sporting, he could add a nice bump on the head.

"I'm sorry...again," he said. Before she replied, Chris became aware of some giggling, and looking over his shoulder he noticed her. He couldn't believe it. When he got home he was going to have to check the Book to see if had somehow become cursed, because this was like a bad song. He turned away, blushing, furiously berating himself for looking like a fool right in front of his dream girl.

"Don't mind her. You deserve better than Prissy Christy." Chris looked up at the girl he had run into and felt his embarrassment turn into anger. It was the straw that broke the camel's back, this person he didn't even know telling him how to live his life, protecting him like he was some baby.

"Mind your own business," he snapped, slamming the girl's books and notebooks back into her hands. "Or is that too much to ask?"

Instead of being embarrassed or backing off, the girl instead threw him a chilling look as they both stood. "I don't believe I heard you ask. If you want to waste your time on someone like her, far be it from me to stop you." And with that she was gone in the crush of students.

Chris hit his locker with the palm of his hand, barely noticing the sting. Something snapped and he told himself, "Screw it." He opened his locker again, pulled out his backpack, stuffed some things inside, took out his jacket, slammed the locker shut again, and headed in the opposite direction from his last class. He was already in enough trouble, what would skipping his last class mean in the greater scheme of things? He suspected that nobody would even care. It wasn't like he was worth anything to anyone.


	6. Maybe, just maybe

Chris threw his backpack to the ground, picked up a few stones, and methodically began skipping them across the water. This little pond in an out of the way place in the park was his favorite place to think. And boy, did he need to think. It seemed like lately his life was spinning out of control, or at least, spinning more than was usual. Sometimes he wished he could ask the controller of this strange ride to just let him off. 

When he threw his last rock, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and stared into the water as if it could give him some answers. Answers to why his parents seemed to be stifling him more and more these days. What had he done that made them so skittish? Why did they think they still had to hold his hand when he crossed the street?

As he morosely contemplated his existence, he became aware of...of something. He didn't make any indication that he had noticed, but he just knew, somehow, that he wasn't alone. He briefly considered orbing home, but no, he couldn't, wouldn't do that. For all he knew, it was some random person, and orbing would just expose magic. And if it was demonic, then maybe he could finally prove to his parents that he could handle himself.

Making up his mind, Chris decided to try a slightly edited version of one of his mom's favorite spells. "Let the object of objection be shown unto me, as I cause the unseen to be seen." As he said the spell, he spun around, and to his amazement, where there had been nothing before, a girl suddenly appeared behind him. And not just any girl. The girl he had run into in the school hallway not an hour before.

"Damn," the girl sighed. "Well, I guess that lets that cat out of the bag." She sauntered up next to Chris, putting her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. "What made you think to do that?"

"I just had a feeling that someone was there- wait a minute! What were you doing there in the first place? And what are you if I may ask?"

"I'm a whitelighter," she told him. She orbed out and back in to make sure he knew she wasn't lying. "To be specific, I'm your whitelighter."

"Excuse me? Why would I need a whitelighter?"

The girl gave him a look like he hadn't thought that question all the way through. "Every witch gets a whitelighter, and you are part witch, hence, you have a whitelighter."

"What I mean is that I thought I already had a whitelighter, and he's my father." Chris was rapidly losing control of his emotions. He almost would have rather it had been a demon watching him.

"Your father's only concern is the Charmed Ones," the girl replied.

"Oh, right, sure, then why is he always keeping track of us?"

"Maybe I should have said his only official concern is the Charmed Ones. Of course he keeps track of you and your siblings. He wouldn't be a good father if he didn't. But he has not had an official charge outside of the Charmed Ones in a long time." Chris wondered at that piece of information, but the girl continued. "Besides, there's a rule that you cannot be the whitelighter for a blood relative, depending on how close the relationship is, and a son would definitely be too close a blood relationship."

Chris snorted. "It wouldn't be the first time my father has broken one of your vaunted rules. My siblings and I wouldn't exist if he hadn't."

"Even your father has to obey some rules." The girl leaned down, picked up a stone, and skipped it expertly across the pond.

Chris was silent for a moment, then asked his next question. "Wait, so then my sisters have their own whitelighters too?"

"Actually, they share one. Your brother has one, too."

"Yeah, sure. Pull my other leg. Wyatt hasn't needed protection since the day he was born."

"More exists in the world then is dreamt of in your philosophy, or something like that. The point is, you don't know everything. Whitelighters do not exist solely to protect our charges. That is a main part of our job, but not the only part. Besides, this shouldn't come as such a shock to you. You've met your brother's whitelighter."

"What? No, I haven't. I think I would have remembered."

"Then you don't recall a big guy with a huge sword coming over to train with your brother from time to time?"

"Michael? He's Wyatt's whitelighter?" Chris did know him, if Michael really was Wyatt's whitelighter. The guy had been around for as long as Chris could remember. Sometimes he came over to train Wyatt in one thing or another, swordsmanship being one aspect, and sometimes Wyatt went somewhere to meet him. Chris had often wished he was allowed to train with someone like that. But no, once again he had been slighted and been given to, not an experienced guy, but a mere slip of a girl. He tried to keep these thoughts to himself, knowing it wasn't fair to take his frustrations out on her, but she must have seen his thoughts in his eyes.

"Spit it out," she ordered, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

Fine. "I was just wondering why Wyatt was assigned to a guy like Michael, and I was given to a rookie who couldn't keep herself concealed from a sixteen year old."

Instead of getting embarrassed or insulted, she merely cocked her head. "Letting myself be seen was a slip up because I wasn't paying close attention to you, and because I underestimated you a bit, which won't happen again. But don't assume anything about my age or experience. When you do that, you make an ass out of you and me, if you get my drift."

Chris almost retorted back angrily, but stopped himself and thought better of it. "Okay, then how long have you been a whitelighter?"

"Let's just say that I've been one a lot longer than your dad, but not even half as long as Michael and leave it at that. By the way, my name is Joan, in case you care to know." She stuck out her hand for Chris to shake, which he did.

"So, why exactly were you following me? I didn't think whitelighters hovered around their charges unless there was some kind of imminent threat, or they are married to them, like my dad. Since I know I'm not married to you..."

"There's no imminent threat, though with your family it seems like there always is one. No, I was just recently assigned to you, and I was watching you to learn your habits and such so that I would know what was normal for you and what was out of the ordinary."

"Find out anything interesting?" He really, really hoped not.

"Don't worry. Even if I found out anything about you that's juicy, I wouldn't tell your parents. I take my job very seriously, and I have never been one to spread gossip."

"You obviously haven't met my parents. If they wanted information about me from you, they wouldn't leave you alone until they got it. And my Dad is pretty high up, so..."

"Don't worry about it, kid. The Elders haven't intimidated me in a long time, and I'm too old and set in my ways for them to try and change me now. Your father can't hurt my career, such as it is. As for your parents, believe me, I've dealt with worse. Trust me on this."

Chris cocked an eyebrow. "I'll trust you if you promise not to call me 'kid' or anything like that anymore."

Joan grinned. "Deal. Oh, and if possible, don't mention that we met today. Or if you do, at least don't give them my name. I'm not afraid of your parents, but I really don't need to deal with the headache your father will give me. The man holds grudges far past the time they should expire. And he doesn't even really have a reason to hold the grudge in the first place, but there you have it." Before Chris could ask about that cryptic comment, she cocked her head, as if listening to something. "Sorry to cut this short, but the big guys upstairs are calling my name. I better go see what the old biddies want. Au revoir!" And with that, she was gone.

Chris was left not knowing what to think. Too much had been thrown at him in such a short period of time. But if he really had been assigned a whiteligher, maybe, just maybe, someone thought he was worth something. Maybe. But right now it was definitely time to go home and start asking some discrete questions.


	7. Hopes dashed yet again

Maybe he wasn't going to have to check the Book to see if he was cursed after all. For instead of having to figure out a way to get his parents to talk to him about his whitelighter without them knowing he already knew about it, the opportunity practically fell in his lap.

When he got home, his parents were discussing something so heatedly that they didn't even notice that he had walked into the kitchen where they were.

"I'm getting sick of repeating myself," Piper fumed, banging various pots and pans. "Tell the Elders that I want a different whitelighter for the girls."

"I can't," Leo replied in a tone that made it clear he had said this numerous times before. "Gerald is their fifth whitelighter. Do you realize that most witches have only one whitelighter in their entire lives? At the most, they switch once, and only for extreme and/or unusual circumstances. We can't have the Elders assign a new one every time the girls decide to get into trouble!"

"I wouldn't keep asking for a new whitelighter if there was one who could do the job, Leo! Causing trouble is one thing, allowing charges to be in mortal danger is quite another!"

"Allowing?! You and your sisters are in mortal danger constantly, do you think I allow that?? Or do you just think I'm incompetent, too??"

"That's completely different, and you know it! Phoebe and Paige and I are doing our jobs, fighting evil. Patty and Prue are simply being kids, albeit magical ones, and if their whitelighter can't handle watching two girls, then he needs to think about a different career!"

"What would you suggest, Piper? He's dead!"

Chris didn't often see his parents argue like this. Oh, sure, they had their arguments. It wouldn't be a healthy marriage if they didn't. But fights like this, fights where they were yelling at one another to the point that they didn't even notice that someone else was in the room, these only happened occasionally and for pretty much one reason. If they were getting this angry, it most likely meant that they were both concerned with the safety of someone they loved. In this case, it was apparently about Patty and Prue.

The last time his parents had had this kind of fight, it had been over Wyatt. He had come home from some trip that Chris still hadn't heard the details of, and he acted pretty...different for awhile. He wasn't his normal, outgoing self. Instead, he stayed home and did nothing but study and train for several months. Chris remembered the fight his parents had had during that time. Actually, he didn't remember the exact words, because that time they had locked themselves in the attic. However, he did remember hearing their raised voices through the ceiling of the guest bedroom that he had been using to study in because Wyatt wanted to be alone, and he remembered how that fight had ended. He had really liked that chair, but when his mother chose to blow something up, there was usually no salvaging it.

As he observed his parents getting more and more agitated, and flinging more and more accusations back and forth, he figured maybe now he should make his presences known. At least that way maybe he could keep his mother from blowing up an appliance or another piece of furniture. "Uh, I don't mean to interrupt, but who's Gerald?"

Both Piper and Leo whirled towards Chris, Piper actually raising her hands momentarily as if to blow him up. "Chris! You know better than to scare me like that! I could have blown you up! And what were you doing there, eavesdropping?"

"Mom, I could have been in the next county and I would have been able to hear you, so I don't know if it counts as eavesdropping. Besides, I have to walk through the kitchen to get to my bedroom."

"You could have orbed down there," Piper said as she walked around the island and sat at the kitchen table, putting her head in her hands. Leo remained at the island with his hands braced on it, taking in deep breaths.

"You always tell us not to use magic unnecessarily and never for personal gain, which this probably would have been." Chris was happy to see that both his mother and father seemed to be coming down off of the adrenaline rush and were calming down.

Piper snorted. "So now he listens to me." She looked up at her younger son. "So, obedient son of mine, how much of that did you hear?"

"Basically, that the girls have a whitelighter, which I'm surprised to hear about, and that you think he's incompetent and should be replaced, but Dad thinks that it's pointless and that you've done it too many times already."

"So you heard pretty much everything," Leo summarized as he straightened and turned around, leaning back against the island and raising an eyebrow.

"I guess," Chris said, leaning back against the kitchen wall. Man, he deserved some kind of award for the performance he was giving. That, or his luck was turning and his parents were buying his act. Either way, he would take it. "Um, so you didn't answer my question. Who is Gerald?"

Leo glanced at Piper, and after a moment she sighed and waved her hand as if to say, "Whatever, you might as well tell him."

"Gerald Stidolph is the whitelighter assigned to Patty and Prue," Leo told him. "He's a very experienced whitelighter, but he has more charges than just your sisters, so he can't be watching over them every possible second. Plus, until now, we've had the stipulation that neither you nor the girls should know that you have whitelighters."

"Wait, you mean I have a whitelighter, too?" Yep, this performance was definitely going down as a great one in his own Hall of Fame of Great Moments.

"Yes, not that they seem to ever do us any good," Piper remarked irritably. "Present company excluded, of course," she thought to add after a moment.

"Of course," Leo said. It wasn't as if he hadn't heard her thoughts on the Elders before.

"So, wait, can I meet my whitelighter?" Chris walked over to the table and sat down.

"Actually, you've just been recently assigned a new whitelighter. I don't even know who he is yet, so no, you can't meet him, at least not for awhile."

Chris raised a brow. "Two questions. Why don't you know who my whitelighter is, and why would I have just gotten a new one? I don't do anything on the scale of the girls to warrant a new one."

"Your father will find out soon enough, and the change in your whitelighter has nothing to do with you, it just kind of...happened." Chris may not have inherited the power of premonition, but he knew, just knew, that his parents weren't telling him everything, not that that was anything new. "We would appreciate it though if you didn't tell your sisters about this."

"Why not? What's the big deal about having a whitelighter?"

"It's not a big deal," Leo assured him, "it's just that if the girls slip away from us now to do some sort of mischief, there is an outside source that they are unaware of that may be able to keep track of them. If they knew about their whitelighter, they would find a way to fool Gerald as well and we would have one less way of keeping the girls safe."

"That makes sense, but then why didn't you ever tell me about my whitelighter?" Chris didn't like the nervous look his parents shared. It was the look people gave one another when they didn't want to tell someone something they knew they wouldn't want to hear.

"Um, well...you see...we, uh, we couldn't very well tell you and not tell the girls, Chris. You might let something slip." Piper thanked her lucky stars that she had come up with something that sounded at least halfway plausible.

Chris stood up. He wasn't buying it, and he wouldn't pretend otherwise. "That wasn't your real reason, was it? You didn't trust me to not do something like what the girls do. Even though I have never gotten into the level of trouble that they do! Ever! And even if that is your real reason, then you don't trust me enough not to open my big mouth, is that it? Is Wyatt your only child you trust with secrets? Is he?!"

"Chris, that's not-"

"Forget it," he spit out as he stalked over to the basement door and headed down to his bedroom, leaving his frustrated and somewhat guilty parents behind him. He had been deluding himself when he had thought back at the pond that somebody actually considered him worth something. His parents didn't think anything of him and his abilities. They just apparently believed he was so helpless that he required an extra baby-sitter in the form of a whitelighter.

He flopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. He needed to find out why his parents were so overprotective with him, and fast, or he was going to explode. This constant babying was way past annoying, had gone far past normal parental control. There had to be a reason, and he was going to find out what it was. That, or go insane trying to actually grow up and have a life.


	8. The plot thickens

Chris paced back and forth in his bedroom. He had called for Joan five minutes ago, and he was starting to wonder what was taking her so long. Sure, he was just a kid and he was her new charge, but the point was that he was her charge and she should show up when he called. Maybe she was going to turn out to be just another person who didn't think he was worth anything.  
  
"Joan! I would like to talk to you, if that's not too much trouble!"  
  
"Do you want to talk, or do you want to just keep yelling?" The voice coming from behind him startled Chris and he whirled around to face his whitelighter. Man, he really needed to work on the paying attention thing. He should have heard her orb in before she talked.  
  
"What took you so long?" He didn't mean it to sound so accusing and, well, whiny, but he wasn't in the greatest mood after his latest confrontation with his parents.  
  
"Excuse me if I have other charges to attend to," Joan replied, flopping down on Wyatt's bed. "And if I had known that you were going to be some kind of arrogant jerk who thinks he can order me around, I wouldn't have taken this job in the first place."  
  
Chris blew out a breath. "Look, I'm sorry, it's just that my parents really ticked me off, and since they weren't giving me any answers, I thought I would try you before I went off the deep end."  
  
Joan raised an eyebrow. "I don't know how much I can tell you, but go ahead, ask away."  
  
"Why exactly did I get a new whitelighter?"  
  
"What did your parents tell you," Joan hedged.  
  
"Basically that it had nothing to do with me personally, but I don't buy it. They were shooting each other the "we shouldn't tell him for his own good" looks."  
  
Joan sighed. "To be perfectly honest with you, Chris, I don't know exactly why I was asked to take over as your whitelighter. All I know is that a personal friend of mine approached me about it, and it is very hard for me to say no to him, no matter how much this case bothers me."  
  
"Bothers you? Why would it matter to you one way or another?" He wasn't sure just yet whether she was being straight with him, but if she was, maybe he would finally get some answers.  
  
"It's not you per se that bothers me. There are two reasons why I was reluctant to take on this assignment, one being that I didn't like the fact that the Elders didn't want to tell me everything. They gave me this line about how it didn't matter, and that it was some big secret, but if it pertains to a charge of mine, I have a right to know. I don't put up with that kind of 'Top Secret' crap."  
  
Now it was Chris' turn to raise an eyebrow. It wasn't often he heard someone outside of his family say such disparaging things about the Elders. Even in his family, Piper was about the only one who got away with anything to that extent. "Do you have any idea what it is they don't want to tell you about me?"  
  
"Not a clue. If my friend hadn't told me that it was of the utmost importance I take this job, I wouldn't have solely on principle. I think my friend knows something about it though, and I'm working on trying to get him to tell me what it's all about."  
  
Chris decided to let that go for now in favor of a different question. "So, what was number two?"  
  
"What?" Joan asked, pretending to be interested with a non-existent speck on her shirt.  
  
"You said there were two reasons you didn't want to take the assignment, but you've only told me one. What's the other?"  
  
The whitelighter sighed. "Actually, it's your father."  
  
Chris stiffened. He may fight with his parents, but that didn't mean he liked anyone else badmouthing them. If his whitelighter had a problem with this father, then the Elders were just going to have to find him a new whitelighter. "What about my father?"  
  
Joan looked him in the eye. "Your father and I go a ways back. Back when he was a rookie, we had a little...misunderstanding...and your father has never let that go. I think he's a very competent whitelighter now, and I respect him for a lot of the work he's done over the years, but I don't really like being in close proximity to the guy. He needs to learn to get over some things and move on."  
  
"What kind of things?" Chris was curious, because he didn't know his father to be that kind of person to hold a grudge for that long.  
  
"That's for another time." She stood up and put her hands in her back pockets. "Look, I need to head out because, like I said, you're not my only charge. Have I told you enough to keep you from going 'off the deep end'?" She emphasized that last part by making the air quotes with her hands.  
  
Chris sat in the chair at his desk. "I guess." Before she orbed away, he thought of one more important question. "Wait, I need to know one more thing."  
  
"And what's that?" the whitelighter wanted to know.  
  
"The whitelighter you replaced, the one who was assigned to me before, was he or she just as qualified as you, or were you a kind of upgrade?"  
  
"Well, at least you credited me with not being less competent than you're previous whitelighter. That's a good sign." She saw that he wasn't going to give up on this, so she answered honestly. She had always found that it paid to be honest with one's charges, even brutally so. "I don't know who your previous whitelighter was, that's one of the things being kept from me, but I can tell you this. Without meaning to sound arrogant, I am one of the most qualified whitelighters available. And, my friend who urged me to accept the assignment told me it might require my special touch." She looked down at her watch. "In the immortal words of Tigger, 'TTFN, Ta Ta For Now!'" And with that she was gone.  
  
Chris was left not knowing what to think. What in the world was "special touch" supposed to mean anyway? And if she was as qualified as she said, then why had she been assigned to him? As much as he prided himself on his abilities, he was under no illusion about his rank in the magical hierarchy. He had been flattered to find that he even had a whitelighter, let alone a highly qualified one.  
  
Maybe there was a reason for his parents' behavior. But this conversation with Joan had just raised more questions than it had answered. What kind of danger could they be expecting that they would be so protective of him and the Elders would see fit that he needed a more qualified whitelighter? And if there was such a huge danger looming on the horizon, why had the Elders not seen fit to inform Joan, the one who was tasked to look after his safety? And he hadn't even begun to contemplate what Joan could have done to his dad to make him hold a grudge for over fifty years.  
  
Chris morosely looked down at his desk where he had dumped his books. Who could possibly think about math and U.S. History at a time like this? He sighed. He would have to if he didn't want to fail either class. Resignedly, he opened one of his textbooks and started on his homework.

* * *

Chris slammed his locker door shut and headed to his last class of the day. He had been pleasantly surprised that the day had actually gone fairly well. He hadn't embarrassed himself, and he thought he had done pretty well on a pop quiz that was given.  
  
But before Chris could get any farther, something totally unexpected happened. The entire hallway froze. Actually, from the lack of sound, it seemed as if the entire school had frozen. He didn't think it was possible, but he only knew one person with this particular power. "Mom?"  
  
"No, she didn't do this, though she does know about it." Chris turned to find his brother's trainer-actually, now he knew that he was also Wyatt's whitelighter- Michael.  
  
"Wha- how? How could you freeze everyone like that?"  
  
"The how is not important right now. What is important is that you need to come with me."  
  
"Wait a second. I'm not going to just leave here with you without knowing why."  
  
Michael snorted. "As if you would have a choice. Look, I don't have a lot of time to waste on chitchat. We need to head to the meeting place where everyone else will be. Everything will be explained there."  
  
Chris still wasn't sure about this. For all he knew this was a shapeshifter demon pretending to be Michael. Then again, a mere shapeshifter wouldn't have the power to freeze the school like this. On the other hand, neither should a whitelighter. But something in his gut told Chris that he should go with him. And whatever wrong choices his gut had led him into areas like girls and family, it had never once let him down when it came to danger and magic, and he wasn't about to start doubting it now. His mother and aunts had always told him to listen to his gut, because it was often the difference between life and death.  
  
With that decided, Chris grabbed onto Michael's arm and they orbed out of the school. Behind them, movement resumed without anyone noticing that Chris had mysteriously disappeared from among them. However, thirty seconds later, hundreds of students were shocked to hear the bell and wondered where the time had gone and how they had suddenly become late to class. 


	9. Dun, dun, DUN

Chris had barely orbed in completely in before his mother grabbed him in a tight hug. "Chris, thank goodness you're all right."

The worry that Chris had begun to feel about tripled. His mother was not known to be clingy and demonstrative like this. Overprotective yes, clingy, no. He looked over his mother's shoulder, which wasn't hard, as he had thankfully inherited his father's height and not his mother's, and took in the surroundings. It seemed to be some uninhabited place of heaven, for it was filled with that white fog-like stuff that permeated the place. "Mom, you're squeezing the life out of me. And by the way, where are we?"

"A safe place, and that's all you need to know," said the unhelpful Michael. He looked to Piper who had released Chris from her hold, but was still gripping his arms. "I will get your daughters now and be back momentarily." He said no more before he orbed away.

Piper brushed back Chris' hair, and he looked into her eyes, not liking what he saw. His mother was usually good at keeping her emotions at bay, at least around her children, so as to never worry them. But right now something had happened to shatter her walls, because Chris could clearly see into her mind, and he saw that she was scared. No, not scared. Terrified.

"Mom, what is going on? You're freaking me out."

Piper finally allowed herself to step back, breaking contact from her younger son. She folded her arms and sighed. "Let's just wait until everyone is here. It will make the explanations that much simpler."

Chris wanted to argue, but figured there was no point. At least it sounded like he was going to get an explanation, albeit not as soon as he would like. He looked around and realized something. "Where's Dad?"

"At an Elders meeting. It was one of the few he was scheduled to go to, and if he doesn't show up without having a good reason not to, the Elders might get suspicious."

Chris felt like his mother had made a sharp turn and he had been left behind. "Wait a second, why are you worried about the Elders? Don't they know about what's going on? And if they don't, why wouldn't we tell them?"

"No, they don't know as of yet, and we would like to keep it that way if possible, and why we can't tell them is part of the explanation that will be forthcoming." She looked over to where Michael orbed in, a hand on an arm of each twin. "Wow, you work fast," she told him as she hugged her daughters to her.

"There is no time to waste. I have one more person to bring here, then we will have to wait for Leo." And with that, he was gone yet again.

"Mom, what's wrong? I can tell you're really worried." At times like this, for a young girl who had yet to gain full control of her empathic abilities, Patty really resented the powers she had been given. In times of turmoil, most people drop any shields on their emotions, and so right now she was getting a full blast from Piper and Chris, and starting to feel it from Prue, not to mention her own feelings.

"It's going to be all right, honey, it always is. Bringing everyone here is just a precaution."

"Is Wyatt that last person that Michael is bringing?" Chris wondered where his brother was. He was somewhat surprised his brother had not picked him up instead of Michael, though he didn't think Wyatt had that kind of freezing power, so maybe Michael was a better choice.

Piper didn't meet their eyes. "Um, no, Wyatt isn't coming."

"What? Isn't coming? Why-" Then it hit Chris. "You're not making him come because you think he can handle whatever the problem is, don't you? Bring the little kids to some safe place, because we're so helpless, but let the all-powerful Wyatt stay down on Earth to fight the evil. Oh, what would we ever do without the great Wyatt?" Chris was building steam as he went along. His resentment had been building up for years, and was finally bubbling out.

"You have no idea what you're talking about Chris," Piper warned him.

"Oh, I think I do, Mom. Every time there is a threat, no matter how small, you make sure the girls and I are behind your back, but you let Wyatt go out on the front lines. Wyatt is perfect and can do no wrong, but the twins and I need you to hold our hands to cross the street!"

"That's enough!" Piper yelled, slashing her hand through the air to emphasize the point.

"No, it's not! I am tired of playing second fiddle to my own parents based solely on the fact that I had the misfortune of being born second! It's not fair and I won't-"

"He's missing, dammit!" Piper put her hand to her mouth and turned away to hide her sudden tears.

Chris stopped mid-rant, his mouth still open, but his mind had gone completely blank. He just couldn't comprehend it. It wasn't possible.

Of course, Prue was the first to find her voice. "What do you mean, he's missing. Wyatt can't be missing."

Michael orbed in with the last person to join the group just in time to hear that statement. "I didn't believe he could go missing either, but he has, hence the reason for you all to be here."

Piper still hadn't turned back around, so she did not notice the new person, but Prue had no problem with asking about her. "Michael, who's she?"

"I'm standing right here, and I have a name," the woman said. Chris almost told the twins the woman's name, but that would have given away the fact that he had met her before now. "My name is Joan, and I would prefer if you direct your questions to me."

"Fine," Patty said, always willing to back up her sister, "I will. What are you doing here?"

"I'm your brother's whitelighter, and as such, I need to be involved in anything of this magnitude." At that news, Piper turned around and eyed the newcomer.

"You can't be Chris' new whitelighter. We specifically asked for a highly qualified one. Where did you die, in an amusement park accident on your fifteenth birthday? You can't be any older or qualified than he is!"

If Chris had not been looking directly into Joan's eyes at that very moment, he would have missed the spark of pure fury that resulted from Piper's comments and belied her usual stoicism. "Not quite, and yes, I am Chris' whitelighter, and I am very ably qualified to be so. You of all people should know by now that looks aren't everything. I will let your insulting comments go because I know you are worried about your other son and because I like some of your relatives that are up here, but don't test my patience."

Piper snorted. "Or what?"

Michael quickly stepped between the two women. "Now is not the time for this sort of argument, though I think you both are too mature to have this fight in any case. Right now our most important responsibility is finding Wyatt."

"Isn't that your job?" Prue demanded. Chris had wanted to ask the same question, but was happy to let Prue ask the question which implied incompetence on Michael's part.

"That's partly my fault," he admitted. "I taught him a long time ago not only how to shield himself from someone's sensing abilities, but also how to throw up a mirage of shorts. Right now I can sense him, but if I were to go to the place that he should be, his is not there."

"This is the first I'm hearing of this," Piper said quite angrily. "Why in the world would you teach him that?"

"Because Wyatt was concerned with worrying you and did not want you to know about some of the places the Elders sent him on missions, even at a young age. However, I only taught him to block and misdirect the sensing abilities of a regular whitelighter. I had not realized that he had acquired the ability to misdirect my attempts to find him."

"But Dad isn't just a whitelighter, he's an Elder," Chris reasoned. "Shouldn't he be able to find him?"

"If Michael can't sense him, nobody can," Joan told him. "Michael is actually a step or two above the Elders."

"Above? I thought the Elders were as high as it went," Patty questioned.

"No, the Elders are merely the highest level that you need ever normally interact with," Joan explained. "Believe me, the Elders are not as big and bad as they think they are."

"Then why is Mom so concerned with not letting them know what's going on?" Chris asked. "Why not enlist their help? Maybe with everyone working together, we could find him."

"No, Chris, and that's final. The Elders can't know that Wyatt is missing. That's why your aunts are staying on Earth for now, so that the Elders don't get suspicious about where all three of us have gone," Piper informed him. "And by the way, there is no "we" that are going to find Wyatt. You will stay here with your sisters until we find him."

"Like hell," Chris said, not caring about saying that to his mother, though maybe he should have by the look in her eye. "He's my brother, and I want to help look for him."

"Why not let him help?" Joan joined in. "It can only benefit us, and I'll be around in case anything happens to watch over him as he is my charge."

"No, this is non-negotiable. I don't care how much you hate me for this Chris, but I will not allow you to come. I can't, I just can't."

Chris saw the anguish in his mother's face, but the pain he felt from what seemed like a knife that his mother had just thrust into him overshadowed any sympathy he might have for her. "Why?" he managed to croak out. "I need to know why, why you don't think I'm worth anything to you, why you have to protect me at every turn, even more than the girls who are younger and less experienced than me. Why, Mother, why?"

"Because," came a voice from behind them that caused everyone to whirl towards it, "we can't lose you, not again." Leo's statement was met by four sets of eyes opened wide in shock.


	10. Fresh perspective

_Again. Again. Again._ The word just kept repeating in Chris' head. What had his father meant by saying "again"? It felt like an eternity, but it was most likely only a few seconds before he found his voice enough to ask the important question. "What exactly do you mean by 'again,' Dad?"

"Oh, my- He's it isn't he? He's the reason why you went crazy." Joan seemed to look at Leo through new eyes.

"Crazy might be a strong word, Joan," Leo remarked.

"Okay, as much as I'm curious about the crazy stuff, I'm much more interested in hearing about this whole again thing." Chris was not going to let this conversation get off track. He couldn't. It sounded as if it would answer some of the biggest questions of his life.

Leo and Piper shared one of those looks that those who have been married for a long period of time can have. It was one of those where no words are spoken, and yet the two people share an entire conversation. Leo looked over at his younger son. "It's time you knew everything, Chris, but we don't have the time to tell you the whole long story right now. Time is of the essence. It is critical that we find Wyatt, or all that we worked for seventeen years ago will have been for nothing."

Chris was getting a headache. "I am so confused right now."

Piper walked over to him and put a hand on his arm. "I know, Chris, but it can't be helped. We need to find Wyatt, and fast. After this is all over, I promise you that we will tell you everything." Chris knew that this wasn't an empty promise. His parents tried hard to not make promises that they couldn't keep. It went against everything in him to let this go, and if it was for anything less than family, he wouldn't. But Wyatt was his big brother and his safety was more important than this conversation.

"All right," he sighed. "But I do want to help at least strategize about what is going to happen." He deserved that much.

"More minds working on the problem can only help," Michael interjected.

Joan snorted. "You always were one to bring in the young people, weren't you?"

Michael raised an eyebrow. "Young people often bring a fresh perspective to any situation." He turned to face the whole group. "So here is the situation. Wyatt can still be sensed by me and Leo and presumably the Elders, but his location is not the correct one. Either Wyatt is consciously trying to evade all of us, or someone is coercing him to do it."

"But there is no reason for him to be doing either. Wyatt is too strong to be coerced into something like that, and he would have no reason to shield himself from you, Michael. Or would he?" Piper was still not happy about the fact that Michael had taught Wyatt to do this in the first place, but she would deal with that issue later.

"There is a third option," Joan pointed out. "If he had been actively blocking you all for some reason, and then been rendered unconscious, he could still be blocking everyone without meaning to."

"How?" Prue questioned. "I thought your powers didn't work if you were unconscious. When Mom got hit that one time, her freezing power wore off."

"It depends on the power being used," Leo answered her. "Mental powers, especially ones used by those as powerful as Wyatt, can still be used by someone when they aren't conscious. Many witches and other beings do things such as keep up force fields even while sleeping."

Piper snorted. "Or ruin their sister's wedding," she muttered.

Leo quickly moved on so nobody would ask about Piper's comment. "So, if Wyatt is unconscious, how can we find him?"

Maybe...no, they would never go for it...but it wouldn't hurt to suggest it. "What if I try to sense him?" Chris tried not to be hurt by the disbelieving looks his parents gave him. They well knew the little time he had spent honing his sensing abilities. But then, that was the point.

"What makes you think that you can sense Wyatt if Michael can't, Chris?" Leo said it in such a way that he wasn't being sarcastic or anything. He was just genuinely interested in how Chris thought he could do what others could not.

Chris put his hands on his hips and looked at the four adults. "This is just a hunch, but I'm thinking that Wyatt isn't blocking every single person with sensing abilities. Rather, I think he has targeted specific people who he wanted to be cloaked from, like Dad, Michael, the Elders, and probably Aunt Paige."

Joan's eyes widened slightly as she caught on to Chris' idea. "So, because he couldn't cover every single person, he didn't target people who he knew didn't have the power to sense him, such as yourself."

"Exactly. He knew as well as you did," Chris continued, looking at his parents, "that I didn't work on my sensing abilities at all, and so he wouldn't consider me to be a person that he needed to block himself from. But I think, or at least I hope, that if I try to sense him, I just might be able to find him."

Michael's eyes were slightly unfocused as he mulled over the idea. "It just might work. The fact that you are brothers would greatly help matters." He refocused directly on Joan. "You will need to stay with him and guide him."

"Of course," Joan said, but Piper was already starting to voice her objections.

"Wait, why does she need to guide him? We're all going to be here, right?"

"Actually, no," Leo told her. He understood how these things worked better than she did. That didn't mean he liked it, but he understood. "When Chris opens himself up to the sensing, it's going to overwhelm him, just like that time when we switched powers when you were pregnant with Wyatt. It won't help him to have the pressure of us standing over him, and because he is inexperienced, he will probably pick up on our emotions as well, and that would just confuse him." Leo looked to Michael, completely ignoring the other whitelighter. "However, I think Michael should be the one to stay here. He is much more experienced."

Joan bristled. Chris could tell that she did not like these repeated attacks on her intelligence and capabilities. "If you want to say something, Leo, I'm right here. Say it."

"All right," Leo said in a tight voice that gave away his agitation. "I don't think you're the right person to be here. I don't like you, but more than that, I don't trust you, not with my son. I don't care how many years you have been a whitelighter."

Joan threw up her hands. "Would you get over it! The reason you don't trust me is for something that happened over fifty years ago! Let it go, there are more important things in life than holding on to stupid grudges!"

"Stupid?!" Leo's face was getting redder by the minute. "You have no comprehension--" But he could go no further, for Michael had thrown up his hand, and suddenly no one but him had the ability to talk.

"All right, this is degenerating fast." Michael looked to Leo. "Whatever your feelings towards Joan, know this. I have trusted her for hundreds of years, and there is no one I believe to be better suited to this task than her. As for me staying here, it is out of the question. If I am not seen, it will be noticed. Besides, I need to make discreet inquiries of people that Joan and you do not have access to. At the most, I can take your daughters with me, because I will be staying up here, and they will be safe in heaven." He then dropped his hand so that everyone had the ability to speak again.

Leo looked to Joan, some of the anger still in his face, but it had abated a bit. "I trust no angel more than I do Michael, so if he thinks you can do it, then I guess I will live with it. Besides, if Chris does manage to find Wyatt, he may need your unique...talents, shall we say."

Piper immediately jumped on what that implied. "Wait, you're not insinuating that if Chris finds him, he will actually go after Wyatt, are you?" She was deathly afraid that was exactly what Leo was saying.

"As a beginner," Michael explained, "Chris will not have the ability to convey Wyatt's location to anyone else. Rather, he will just be able to instinctively know where his brother is and orb there himself."

"No," Piper said, shaking her head.

"Piper-" Leo began, but she cut him off.

"No, and that's final. I refuse to sacrifice one son to save the other. It's essentially what we did before, and I refuse to allow it to happen again."

"You won't be sacrificing him," Joan promised her. "Believe me, I know much more in the way of protecting my charges than just orbing and healing."

"She's right, Piper. This is not a repeat of what happened before. As much as I do not like Joan, I have always respected her for her fighting abilities. She is high on the list of whitelighters you would want with you in a battle." Joan looked somewhat surprised at Leo's admission, but he didn't notice. "This is the way it has to be, Piper. If we don't find Wyatt soon, we know what may happen, and all that has happened before, all that we went through, will be for nothing, and we may lose more than we can bear."

Piper didn't want to accept the logic, but she had no choice. If they didn't do this, the consequences could be much worse than those if they did. "All right," she breathed.

Leo squeezed his wife's shoulders before walking over to his twin daughters. "You two will behave for Michael, you hear me? Now is not the time or place for your antics." When they nodded, he drew them into a brief hug. "I love you. Now, go tell your mother good-bye, and then go with Michael." As they turned away, Leo went to his younger son.

Chris was at a loss for words. He was embarking on a potentially dangerous journey, but after all these years of wanting his parents to respect his worth and let him do harder things, he suddenly didn't know if he wanted the burden. What if he couldn't do it? What if he failed and they didn't find Wyatt? "Dad, I-"

"Don't worry about it, Chris. Whatever happens, know that your mother and I not only love you, but we're proud of you. Our attitude towards you may have seemed stifling at times, but it was done out love for you and not because we didn't think you could handle it." He sighed and put his hands on his son's shoulders. "When this is all over, we will tell you everything, and hopefully you will understand then, but know this. I have been proud of you since even before you were born." He pulled his son into a brief hug, then turned towards his wife.

"Piper, we should head back down to keep the Elders from being suspicious and also to try and find out if there was an earthly reason for Wyatt to block himself rather than a magical one."

Piper walked over as her daughters orbed away with Michael. "Not a bad idea." She moved to Chris and gave him a hard hug. "I love you, Chris. Never forget that."

Leo looked over to Joan one last time. "Take care of my son, Joan."

The whitelighter accepted that for what it was, acceptance of the situation and a nod to her ability to handle it. "I will Leo, with my life." And with one last look to their son, Leo and Piper orbed away.

Chris was stunned. Never had he been bombarded with so much information, so many emotions, all at the same time. He hadn't really even expected for them to take his idea seriously, and here in such a short period of time, the adults had grabbed on to the suggestion and run with it. After all was said and done, he didn't even know if he could pull it off or not. Even with his parents' assurances, he didn't want to fail, for them and for Wyatt, but he really did not know if he could do it.

He looked to his whitelighter, hoping for some pearl of wisdom, some inspiring comment that would get him through this inner turmoil and help him to do what he needed to do. Instead, all Joan did was raise an eyebrow and say, "Well, let's get started."


	11. Questions and answers

"Get started? That's all you have to say?" Whatever unique abilities his father believed that Joan possessed, guiding evidently wasn't one of them.

"Look, you didn't want me to treat you like a kid, so I wasn't going to stand here and give you platitudes, but I can do that if you want."

"No, no, whatever." Chris took a deep breath. "All right, what do I need to do?"

"All right, let's sit down first." Joan had to smile at Chris' dubious look. "We're not actually standing on clouds. You won't fall through or anything. The mist is just a construct that supposedly calms newcomers and helps them with the transition. I think it's pointless, but the Elders are as big on their tradition as they are on their rules."

Chris decided he would believe her and he sat down cross-legged on the floor as Joan did the same across from him. "All right, now what?"

"This process isn't a checklist of things you go through, Chris. While I think you can do it, it's not going to be easy, and you're going to be frustrated. Just be prepared for that."

"I can handle it. Let's just get started." He could handle anything to save his brother. If he got anxious, he just needed to think of his brother and he would be fine, had to be fine. "How do I begin?"

"First off, you need to get your mind off of Wyatt." She could almost read his mind by the way his eyes widened slightly. "Focusing on the problem and worrying about it takes up too much of your mental capacity. You're going to need as much of it as possible focused on the sensing, so you need to get your mind off of it."

Easier said than done. "And how do you propose I do that?"

Joan smirked. "We could talk about Prissy Christy." That got an immediate reaction. She could almost see the red creeping up his neck.

"She's not prissy, and I don't want to discuss her."

"Fine, then what do you want to talk about?" Joan noticed her mistake right away. Never leave someone the opportunity to pick the subject.

"How about you?" Well, she couldn't very well ignore the topic now, not at such a crucial time.

The whitelighter sighed. "All right, what do you want to know?"

* * *

When Piper and Leo orbed into the manor, they were greeted by some very concerned witches.

"Did you find Wyatt?" Paige asked anxiously.

"Does it look like we found him?" Piper snapped. Leo's calm hand on her shoulder helped her rein herself in. "I'm sorry Paige. No, we haven't found him, but we did come up with a kind of plan and meanwhile the girls will stay with Michael for protection."

Phoebe and Paige shared an anxious look, but they couldn't put one past their older sister. "What? What's going on?"

"You know Kelly, Wyatt's girlfriend?" Phoebe asked.

"Of course we know who Wyatt's girlfriend is, Phoebe, we're his parents! Get on with the point!" Piper was definitely not in the mood for any kind of beating around the bush.

"We got a phone call from her parents wondering if we had seen her. Evidently Kelly was supposed to come straight home after school for some family thing but didn't show up, and so they thought maybe she had gone somewhere with Wyatt and were wondering if we knew anything," Phoebe informed them.

"What did you tell them?" Leo asked.

"That we hadn't seen Wyatt since this morning, but that that wasn't unusual and that if we heard from him or Kelly we would give them a call."

"Why, exactly, does this matter?" Piper asked a bit exasperatedly. "I'm a little bit more worried about Wyatt being in serious demonic trouble than I am about Kelly ditching her family." She noticed another look between her sisters. "What is it?!"

"It's just that, well..." Paige seemed to have a hard time getting the next part out.

Phoebe was reluctant to say it as well, but she had much less of a problem talking about difficult subjects than anyone in the family. "Darryl called not long after."

"Darryl? Phoebe, we can't really handle something else right now..."

"No, Piper, you don't understand." Phoebe crossed her arms against her chest. "Darryl called to see if we or Wyatt knew anything. He's coming over to talk to us."

"Knew anything about what?" Leo asked. He was sensing the sisters' worry, and he was very afraid he wasn't going to like what they had to say.

Phoebe looked at Paige one last time. "About Kelly. Her body was found a little while ago. She was murdered."


	12. Getting started

"Orb me back to Chris right the hell now, Leo!" Piper had been demanding the same thing from him for the past five minutes and hadn't yet allowed him to get in a word edgewise.

"Piper, we can't-"

"Don't give me that, Leo! We've moved to a whole other level now, and there is no way we can let Chris go through with the plan!"

"What plan? What is Chris doing?" Paige expected a big reaction, but also thought that Piper would be concerned with what it meant for Wyatt, not Chris.

Leo looked to his younger sister-in-law. "Chris is going to try to sense Wyatt on the off chance that Wyatt hasn't blocked him."

"But it's too dangerous now!" Piper emphasized once again. "If whoever we're dealing with has already killed an innocent, than I am not letting Chris go anywhere near them!"

"We might not have a choice," Phoebe pointed out.

"The hell I don't," Piper countered.

"Honey, listen," Leo said, grasping her shoulders and looking her in the eye. "We don't have the time to think of another plan. What you're saying is true, but the fact that whoever it is has moved up to killing also means that we have less time to find Wyatt before they hurt him, or worse."

"He's right, Piper," Paige said, putting her hand on Piper's arm. "Our best bet is to look into Kelly's death with Darryl and see if it gives us any leads as to where Wyatt might be and who had a reason to do this."

Piper wiped her eyes and looked up at her husband. "Is Chris really safe with Joan?"

As much as it irked him personally to admit the truth, Leo knew this wasn't the time for pettiness and answered her honestly. "She's one of the best, Piper. Chris is safe with her."

Piper sighed heavily. "All right then. Let's get together whatever we might need so that we're ready to go whenever Darryl gets here." As everyone moved to gather necessary equipment, Piper sent up a prayer for her sons to whoever might be listening.

* * *

"Let's start off with what exactly my dad meant by your unique talents." 

Joan grinned. "Even though I shouldn't, I love showing this off." From behind her back the whitelighter drew a long, impressive and shiny sword out of a scabbard that must have been concealed using her whitelighter cloaking abilities.

"Why in the world do you have that?" It was only slightly less grand than Wyatt's Excalibur, but impressive nonetheless. Chris was shocked that a whitelighter would have something like it.

"Most whitelighters were involved in purely peaceful pursuits as humans such as doctors, priests, etc. A chosen few are made whitelighters even though they come from less serene backgrounds. Your father is actually one of them."

"My dad was a doctor," Chris protested.

"Specifically, your father was a medic. Yes, he worked to save lives, but he was a member of your country's armed forces which meant he was also trained to take lives. Your father had to be a very strong force of good in order to combat that kind of lifestyle in order to become a whitelighter."

Chris thought about that for a moment. "So, were you a nurse during a war or something?"

"Or something." She sighed and ran her fingers down her sword when she saw he wasn't going to let this go. "I wasn't a nurse. Those weren't really around back when I was alive, at least not in the way you would think of them. No, I was more of an inspiration if you will, at least that's what they called me. I liked to think of myself as a leader, but I wasn't allowed to be thought of that way back then."

"Wait a sec…how long ago did you die exactly?"

"Oh, it's been about six hundred years now."

"Six hundred! That would mean…" Chris' eyes went out of focus as he thought about this. She couldn't be…could she?

Joan smiled. "You see now why I don't like talking about myself. It brings up too many questions." She sheathed her sword and it disappeared once again behind her. "All you really need to know is that my past, both as a human and as a whitelighter, has given me a lot of experience that I will use to keep you safe. And now, we should probably get started. So, first task, where's your sister Prue?"

* * *

The man scowled. He would have thought that the boy would have grown out of his little force field when he got older, but apparently not. If only...but now was not the time to dwell on that. He needed to focus on the here and now. At least the field was not preventing him from using mental powers to keep the boy unconscious. He suspected that was why the boy's family had not arrived yet, but that was only a matter of time. He would just have to gather his forces for a more concentrated attack. As much as he would love to do this himself, the goal was more important than the means. 

Walking from the room where Wyatt lay on the floor surrounded by a double crystal cage, the man shut the door behind him and smiled. His adversaries did not not know the forces he had amassed on his side this time and they would not, could not stop him.


	13. Now we're getting somewhere

Joan pinched her nose. "Sorry, I know better than to start off with an abrupt question like that." She laid her arms on her legs with her hands outstretched to Chris, palm side up. "Put your hands in mine." She wanted to laugh at the blush she saw creep up his neck, but knew that now was not the time. Making him even more embarrassed would just distract him when he couldn't afford it. She was impressed though with how he complied with her request quickly without giving into his obvious discomfort with the situation. 

Chris was thinking how weird it was to be holding hands with a girl- no, woman- who was hundreds of years old and yet looked younger than he did when suddenly he heard a voice in his head.

_Close your eyes, Chris._

Like any sane person, Chris found this event quite disturbing. "How are you talking to me inside my head?"

_You don't have to talk out loud, Chris, I can hear your thoughts just as you are hearing mine right now._

Chris looked into Joan's eyes and thought, _This is weird._

_Yeah, well, get used to it. It's easier for me to guide you this way, and you're going to have to grow accustomed to it anyway because when you sense one of your family members, you'll hear them talking in your head just like your dad hears his charges._

Chris closed his eyes. _Okay, now what?_

_Now think about your sister Prue. Try to think of only her and her connection to you and not anyone else._

Chris hesitated. _What if she saw more than what he wanted her to?_

He heard a chuckle inside of his head. _Don't worry Chris, I can only hear the thoughts that you mentally verbalize, shall we say. I can't see any pictures that you think of or anything like that._

Chris felt immense relied at that. There were definitely some experiences with various family members that he did not want to share with Joan.

_All right, here goes nothing. _Chris began to think of his sister Prue in only those instances where he interacted with just her. This was actually somewhat difficult because Prue was almost always with her twin. At first all Chris could think of were fights with her. Since they were both strong-willed people, they often disagreed, and plus it's just expected for brothers and sisters to be at each other's throats once in awhile.

But that didn't seem to be working. _Try to think of Prue in a positive situation_, came Joan's voice, and like a switch being thrown, Chris remembered a scene from about four years ago when he was twelve and Prue was eight.

Wyatt and their parents were busy and Patty was sick, so Prue was hanging out downstairs with Chris. She had been bugging him for weeks to work with her on her telekinesis abilities since it was a power they shared, but he had been reluctant to say the least. But this rainy day was turning out to be boring, so he decided to go ahead and work with her. They had actually had a pretty good time, dodging objects they moved at one another down in the basement while challenging themselves to make as little noise as possible so that they wouldn't bring their mother's wrath down upon them.

Then "The Incident" happened. As the number of kids grew in the house, Mom found that she had less and less space to keep her wide assortment of potion ingredients in the kitchen. Therefore, she kept some of the rarer and lesser-used ones in the basement in a glass-fronted cabinet that was locked. However, she was aware that the lock wouldn't stop her magically gifted children, so she had put a spell on the cabinet and the lock that only she could undue that would let her know in a very loud way whether anyone had tried to mess with her stock.

So, it just so happened that despite Chris' warnings, Prue had decided she could handle manipulating two objects at one time. She was wrong. Wyatt's bat that was in the basement went smashing into the cabinet breaking not only the glass, but also several of Piper's most rare ingredients.

Immediately a klaxon like sound erupted and the two children covered their ears. Within seconds Piper was there and recited the spell that shut off the alarm. When she asked who had done the damage, Prue had been very surprised when Chris voluntarily took the blame. Their mother had chewed him out for a long time about showing off his powers for others (his excuse for what had happened), and he had gotten some of the worst punishment ever received by a Halliwell child. Prue had secretly helped out with some of the menial tasks he had to complete, always feeling bad about "The Incident." To this day she actually sent Chris a thank-you card every year on the anniversary of that event to let him know she hadn't forgotten.

And then, without warning, Chris heard Prue's voice in his head. _Are we anywhere close to being done yet? It feels like you've dragged us to everyone in Heaven. _She paused as if to wait for an answer for her question, an answer he couldn't here. _Don't give me this "be patient" crap again. My family is in serious danger and I don't plan on following you around forever!_ She paused again and then her tone became even more belligerent. _You wanna bet?_

_Great job, Chris, you've found her. We don't have the time for you to orb to her, so just pull back from detecting her and we'll move on._

_How exactly do I pull back?_

_Just think of something completely unrelated to her._

_Okay then.How aboutyou tell me whatthe storyis between you and my dad?_

_No, I don't think this is the time for that Chris._

_Why not?_

_Because I said so and because that is between your father and me and is none of your concern._

_Come on Joan-_

_No, and that's final. Think of something else._

_Fine. How long have you know Michael?_

_Since I was young. He was kind of my inspiration to become an inspiration if you will._

_So he's as old as you are?_

_A lot older, Chris. A lot._

_Like, how much?_

_Like I can't even begin to quantify it._

_What?_

_Forget about it. It's time to move on to your mother. She will be harder because she's on earth while Prue was on the same plane that you are on currently, but she is easier than Patty because she doesn't have any emotional powers like your sister does. So, same as before, only with your mother. _And the process began again.


	14. Old doubts and new problems

Michael continued on his conversation with a prominent whitelighter while going over in his mind who he should talk to next. Being able to multitask was an ability he had perfected over the years, and so he was able to continue his conversation without missing a beat when Joan's voice entered his head.

_Don't let the girls get to you, Michael._

Most people might be offended by the insinuation in that comment that two preteens could best someone like him, but Michael was not in the least bit bothered. For one, he was beyond getting incensed at something so minor, and two, he knew Joan was just teasing him anyway. _Do you need something, Joan?_ Long ago he had allowed Joan to be one of the few people he let talk to him in his mind. Even then, he could hear all of her thoughts but she could not hear half of his. No matter how much he trusted her, he would never give anyone that much insight into him. He could also block her whenever he wished, but rarely needed to with Joan. She was not one to contact him without a reason.

_No, I just thought I'd check in with you since I heard how Prue was needling you. I'm somewhat surprised you haven't muted her yet._

_That would most likely create more problems that it would solve._ Michael hadn't missed the import of Joan's comments. If Joan had heard what Prue was saying, than that meant that Chris had already been able to sense her. Despite himself, Michael was somewhat impressed. He had thought the young man's proposal had merit, but had not thought he would be able to move along so quickly. _The kid has potential._

_Why do I feel like you probably said that about me once upon a time?_

_Well, I was right, wasn't I?_

_Let's not even go there, Michael._

_I believe you went there first._

_Whatever._

Michael thought he knew what was bringing this on. Joan had accepted her past a long time ago, but she still occasionally had issues with how she thought young people were sometimes forced to sacrifice their innocence for "the greater good." Because she believed in that cause, had in fact died for it, she never complained too loudly, but did at times like this become a bit cranky. Of course Michael would never tell her that was how he thought of her behavior since he knew that if he did the situation would just become worse. It was a wisdom that he had gained long ago to not be bothered by things like that. Besides, Joan never hung on to the mood for long and she never took it out on her charges. Those two reasons kept Michael from ever cautioning her about it. However, it was something she could not let herself indulge in at the moment.

_Joan, as much as I would like to be kept updated on any significant progress, you should be keeping your attention focused on Chris right now._

_Are you insinuating that I can't handle this, Michael?_

Michael inwardly sighed. She had obviously worked herself up before talking to him. _That's not what I'm saying at all, and you know it Joan. You and I both know your true reason for being upset, but you cannot allow that to cloud your mind right now when you know how important this is. Your primary concern is Chris and his journey to find Wyatt. Anything else can be discussed later._

Joan paused for a moment. _My primary concern **is** Chris, which is why I think we should stop this now._

_You were fine with it earlier, Joan._

_I know, I know, but I'm not so fine with it anymore. There has to be another way._

_If there is, I will find it, but until then this is what we are doing Joan_. He paused a moment. He did not really like doing this, but he did not have the time to convince her using logic and reason. It was just that he knew how she struggled with feeling adequate sometimes. He was the only one she ever confided in about that, but ever since being doubted as a human because she was so young, she was a bit unsure of herself. That was why despite hundreds of years of experience, she still got so defensive about people doubting her abilities. If it was not a problem for her, those comments would not bother her. _It sounds like you are the one who does not think you can handle the assignment, Joan._

_What's that supposed to mean? I can handle this, Michael. It's not like I've never done something like it before._

_Good. I am glad to hear it. Then you will not need to bother me anymore with your misgivings because you know as well as I do that you will protect Chris and so there is nothing to really worry about._

There was a long moment of silence before Joan responded. _Thanks for listening to me Michael._

_It was nothing. Now do your job and let me know if you make any significant progress towards finding Wyatt._

_Will do. Over and out._

Michael smiled to himself. When Joan started making comments like that he knew she was back to her usual self. He was glad. They could ill afford to second guess themselves at this juncture. He ended the conversation that he had maintained while talking with Joan and took the sulking twins to the next person he wanted to talk with.

* * *

Piper paced anxiously back and forth across the living room, waiting for Darryl to get off of his cell phone. Ever since he had walked through the door he had been receiving calls. The first one sounded like it had been from his boss from the way Darryl talked. The other two she wasn't sure about as it was hard to get any information from Darryl's half of the conversation. All she knew was that if he didn't get off that phone in about ten seconds, she was going to blow it up in his hand. Being a good cop with instincts honed over many years, Darryl seemed to sense that Piper was fed up and ended his conversation as quickly as possible.

"Sorry about that," he said as he flipped his phone shut and put it away in his suit's jacket pocket.

"What's with all of the phone calls?" Paige asked him.

"The first one was my boss. Originally they were just going to send some detectives over here to question all of you about Wyatt and Kelly, but I persuaded him that my personal relationship with your family would help in this case. He was just calling to remind me that this isn't officially my case and to pass on any information to the investigators."

"You're not going to pass on everything I hope."

Darryl just gave her a look. "What, do you think I'm going to tell them that you're witches and that there's a possibility that Kelly was killed by demons, Piper? Come on, I deserve more credit than that."

Phoebe jumped in before her sister could vent her frustrations. "It's not you Darryl. We're just all stressed over what's going on. Were the other calls important?"

The cop rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, yeah. One of the forensics guys I know called to let me know something significant. There wasn't any blood around Kelly's body which means-"

"She was moved," Paige finished for him.

"Exactly."

"Anything else?" Leo asked.

"Yes, but you're not going to like it."

"Tell us anyway," Leo said before Piper could burst out. He knew his wife well and she was going to blow up at someone or something any minute now, figuratively or literally.

"Evidently there was a witness of sorts to the drop-off. He's not very credible as he's a homeless guy and the uniform cop who called me after the forensics guy said that the guy's drunk too. He was the one who found the girls body and contacted the police. However, I'm inclined to believe him."

"Why's that?" Phoebe inquired. It didn't sound to her like the guy was credible either.

"Because I can't think of why he would make this up." He looked around at everyone in the room. "He told the cops who came to the scene that the reason he went looking in the alley was because he had seen a light coming from there." Darryl paused. "A blue light."


	15. Conversations, questions, & hopes

Michael was beginning to feel frustration at the lack of information he had been able to accumulate thus far. Of course he could have probably learned more if he asked direct questions, but that was still not an option and would continue to be unless circumstances changed. As he finished speaking with a colleague about something meaningless, a whitelighter approached that Michael had not anticipated encountering.

"Michael, may I speak to you for a moment?" inquired Gerald Stidolph.

This was an unanticipated, though not entirely surprising, development. "Of course." Michael excused himself from the whitelighter he had been speaking to and moved off with Gerald. "What do you wish to speak of?"

"Imagine my surprise when, as I was dealing with a messy situation with another charge, I sensed two of my charges in Heaven. Why, with all due respect, do you have my charges with you up here? Have I been removed without being told?"

"No, not at all. I am merely granting a request by the Halliwells to provide temporary protection over the young ladies."

"As their whitelighter, I should have been told of such a request."

"Perhaps." Michael did not respond further. He found that making short comments often prompted others to speak up more and offer up information that they might otherwise not have. His intuition about when to use such a tactic rarely failed him, and it did not now.

"Is this some sort of reaction to the trouble the twins were in a few nights ago? As I told Leo, I have more charges than just the two of them and I can only be in so many places. I shouldn't have to anticipate-"

"And no one is asking you to." Gerald seemed to be uncharacteristically bothered for some reason, but Michael did not have the time to find out what was troubling the man. "As far as I know, Gerald, you have not been relieved of your position as the girls' whitelighter. Now, if you will excuse me, I have people I need to see."

"Hold on," Gerald spoke up, placing his hand on Michael's arm. He saw the error of his ways upon seeing the look in the other man's eyes as he stared at Gerald's hand, which the whitelighter quickly removed. "Sorry. I just wanted to suggest that since I haven't been removed, and since you seem to be busy with something, why don't you let me watch over the girls for their parents."

Michael thought about that. There were some beings he would like to visit that it would not be prudent to bring the girls along with him and there was no reason for him to worry about leaving them with Gerald. He was their whitelighter after all. But for some reason, Michael was not inclined to do so. He could not place his finger on why, but he was notleaning towards the idea. However, before he could say so, someone else seconded his opinion.

"We're not going anywhere with him," Prue declared. Michael had been aware of their presence behind Gerald, but apparently he had not, as he whirled around to face their antagonistic expressions.

"This is not your decision, child," Gerald said in a subtly condescending tone. Obviously, he had not had much experience with being the whitelighter of young people. It wasn't really his fault because most witches did not have a full time whitelighter until at somewhere around the age of eighteen, so most whitelighters didnot have much association with young people,but as with most instances, the Halliwells were special cases. That said, one would have thought that Gerald would know that a statement like that would not be greeted with meek submission.

"Oh, really?" commented Prue in a misleadingly calm voice as her hands clenched in fists. Michael was not exactly sure why the girl had reacted so strongly against this idea, but he could see this was heading in a very bad direction and attempted to head it off before he had to handle the girl either throwing the whitelighter with her powers or punching him in the face. Twelve or not, with the family she came from he would not put it past her to try something like that.

"Your assistance is not needed at this time, Gerald. If it is, I assure you that I will call upon you." The other whitelighter seemed to want to argue his case some more, but after a raised eyebrow from Michael, decided discretion was the better part of valor.

"All right, Michael. I have some other charges I can check in with. Let me know if I can be of any help."

After Gerald had orbed away, Michael turned to the young women. "Now, would you mind explaining to me what that was all about?"

* * *

Chris was in the process of locating his sister Patty. His mother had not proved too difficult, for he had some great memories that involved her. Much of his own sarcastic and confrontational personality came from his mother, and while often that caused problems, occasionally it lent itself to good times. One such time had been an afternoon he and his mother had spent in the park people watching. They had had lots of fun thinking up hilarious names for the various people walking by.

The best one by far had been this huge guy that had reminded Chris of a character from a really old movie he had watched with his mother one time about four guys who made a living taking care of ghosts. This guy could not have resembled the marshmallow man from the filmany more if he had tried. But, the icing on the cake had been when the guy was a little ways away and reached into the bag he had been carrying to pull out, wonder of wonders, a bag of marshmallows. Chris and Piper had not stopped laughing for a long time after that and still referenced that moment to this day.

That memory had triggered Chris' locating of Piper, which had been quite startling because something had obviously ticked her off. He knew that from the numerous swear words going through her mind at the time he located her, some of them ones he had never heard before and some in new and interesting combinations. He had wanted to stick with that for awhile, not only to gain an interesting education, but also to find out what had made his mom that angry, but Joan quickly pulled him out.

So, now Chris was working on locating Patty. This was somewhat difficult for the same reason as Prue. Those two really needed to work on having separate lives. However, he considered Patty to have a more even-tempered personality which meant less fights and more pleasant memories with her.

One such memory had been a bike ride they shared around their neighborhood in an instance when Prue hadn't felt inclined to join. Chris was in the middle of this memory when pain like he had never felt before pierced his brain.

"Ahhh!" he exclaimed out loud, attempting to pull his hands from Joan's in an instinctive wish to put them against his head, but she wouldn't let him. He could barely hear her in his mind telling him to calm down and concentrate on Patty to get through the pain. Chris was feeling nauseous as he was being hit with all sorts of emotions at the same time, fear, anger, annoyance, frustration and probably more. He thought he was going to throw up. "Make it stop, Joan!"

_You can do it, Chris. Keep concentrating on Patty._ Joan had known this would happen. It was inevitable in someone who was not accustomed to dealing with it. The emotions that Patty felt from other people were on the outer edges of her consciousness and one had to get past those to actually feel her and locate her. An experienced whitelighter could get past those outer edges quickly with only a minor twinge of pain or queasiness, if anything at all.

However, Chris was not experienced, but Joan had not been able to think of a way to prepare him for it, so she thought she would just see how it went. Now she was regretting that decision as she gripped his hands, not allowing him to break their contact, and tried to talk him through it, hoping he could handle it, praying he could.


	16. Leo & Him

"I told you, we just didn't want to go with someone we don't know," Prue said to Michael. 

"And I'll say again, you would not have had that strong of a reaction unless there was another reason."

"I'm the reason," Patty spoke up.

Michael had suspected as much. "What did you feel?"

The girl shrugged. "I wasn't exactly sure, but I got the feeling that he was way to interested in watching over us, and it always makes me wary when someone wants to watch us that badly. Nobody ever wants to watch us."

Michael had not doubt that could be true, but he was kept from ruminating on the possible meanings of that revelation when a whitelighter came running up to him calling out his name.

"Michael! Michael, come quick!" A somewhat short and plain looking whitelighter with unkempt hair ran up in his formal robes, almost tripping on them a couple of times.

"Nelson, calm down. What's the problem?"

The whitelighter caught his breath before replying. "I was in the Elder's chambers discussing one of my charges with them when Leo orbed in. Michael, he went ballistic on them! It's like he's gone crazy all over again."

This was definitely not good news. Michael wondered what could have happened to set Leo off like that. "What did Leo say?"

"I didn't catch all of it before I left to look for you. He said something about not putting it past them for doing something like 'this' but I never heard what 'this' was. Michael, you have to get there before Leo provokes them into doing something bad."

Michael had been thinking along similar lines, but was even more concerned with what Leo could be giving away to the Elders. "Nelson, do me a favor, stay here with these girls. Don't let them out of your sight." He turned to the girls and gave them one of his most serious looks. "Do not cause trouble while I am gone, or you will answer to me." And with that he was gone, leaving the three behind to look awkwardly at each other.

* * *

Chris was about to the point where he thought he was going to throw up everything he had eaten that day. He could faintly hear Joan's voice, but not enough to make out the words. He tried to focus on Patty, but the pain was too much. _I will never make fun of your powers again, Patty. This is pure hell. _And as if he had thrown a light switch, the pain was over. He could still feel the residual effects washing away through his body, and his stomach still felt a bit funny, but he could tell the worst was over. 

_Why would Dad be yelling at the Elders? I wonder what happened. Maybe Prue and I can manage to ditch this guy and head over there. Then again, I don't want to mess with Michael, and I don't think he was kidding. But he wouldn't really do anything, would he? And who is this guy he left with anyway?_

_Okay, one, I didn't realize Patty was such a chatterbox inside of her head, and two, what in the hell was that I just went through? You didn't mention anything like that happening._

But Joan didn't have the time to answer Chris' questions. She had received what amounted to a flash message from Michael that something had happened to set Leo off which meant their timetable had most likely been pushed up. _Forget about looking for your dad, Chris, we're skipping to your brother._

_What? Why? And what was Patty talking about, why is Dad talking with the Elders? I thought we weren't telling them what was going on?_

_I think Patty said "yelling" and not "talking," but that's beside the point. What is important is that you need to look for Wyatt **now**._

_But-_

_No buts, Chris._ Joan hadn't pulled that tone of voice in a long time. Maybe even since she had commanded men in battle. Somewhere in the back of her mind it registered that it felt good to command someone like that again. _Start locating your brother now._

_Okay, but I am definitely going to deserve several explanations when this is all over._

Joan could use some explaining as well, but that would have to wait until she was sure Wyatt was safe.

* * *

Gerald paced back and forth across the room. He had no idea how he was going to tell him about this. Why hadn't Michael just let him watch the girls? Why did Michael have to butt in like that? And why did Michael have them anyway? Were they starting to suspect what was going on? Did they know about his involvement? 

As Gerald sweated, he reassured himself of his safety. If Michael had known about his involvement, Gerald would have been interrogated within an inch of his life. No, the family might know something, but they did not suspect him as of yet.

Maybe it was about that girl. It had been stupid for him to orb into that alley with her, he knew that, but what else could he have done? He had told Gerald to dump her body so that a search for her wouldn't cause them any problems. Where else could Gerald have done that but in an alley?

He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. He was a talented, experienced whitelighter and he wasn't going to let circumstances upset him. His boss would just have to deal with it. It wasn't like there was anything they could do about it now. And yet, Gerald couldn't quite communicate those thoughts to his queasy stomach. He was not looking forward to when his boss came back from wherever he was. Until then Gerald would just have to think about how he could fix the mess he had gotten himself into.


	17. Something terrible

"Leo!" Piper was not happy, and it wasn't because Leo had decided to go chew out the Elders. No, it was because he hadn't taken her with him. If he got to yell at the Elders, then so did she. "Leo!"

"I don't think he's going to come back right now," Phoebe said. "Maybe we should just go ahead with what we were going to do down here and let him talk with the Elders."

"Talk? I don't think Leo went up there to talk." Paige threw up her hands at the look Phoebe gave her. "What? He didn't look like he was in a talking kind of mood when he left."

"Well, can you blame him?" Piper asked. "A whitelighter at the very least was an accomplice to a murder and maybe did the murder as well. There's a good chance the Elders knew about it beforehand or found out about it afterwards, and yet they didn't say anything to Leo."

"Well, he's not exactly a full-time Elder, you know." Paige decided to keep her mouth shut for a bit after getting a look from Piper too.

"Look, why don't we just go to the alley with Darryl and see if I can get a premonition. Maybe I'll get a visual of what the whitelighter looked like. Who knows, maybe it wasn't even a whitelighter. We've seen weirder things before."

"Don't give me that! This is my family we're talking about, my children, and if They know anything, then I deserve to be in on any discussions with Them. If it was your children, you'd be saying the same thing."

Phoebe's eyes flashed. "I don't like the insinuation that I don't care about Wyatt and Chris and the twins because they're not my kids. I delivered Wyatt for heaven's sake Piper!"

Darryl stepped in between the sisters. "Whoa, whoa, you two need to calm down." He almost backed off at the look the two witches gave him, but years of training and experience both as a cop and as a friend of the Halliwells helped him hold his ground. "Look, Phoebe has a point. I'm sure Leo will come back down eventually, and when he does Piper, you can chew him out for not including you. Until then, we may as well be proactive instead of just yelling at each other."

"He's right," Paige interjected. "Piper, think about it, if it was our kids, you would be telling us the same thing."

Piper ran her fingers through her hair. "I know, it's just…what if what happened seventeen years ago was for nothing? I can't lose him, and I don't even want to think about what would happen to Leo and this family if it happened again."

Phoebe walked to her sister and gave her a hug. "We're not going to let that happen, Piper. It wasn't for nothing, and Chris and Wyatt and all of us are going to be fine."

"I hope so," Piper sighed. She pulled back from her younger sister. "All right, let's go and see what we can find out. I'll yell at my husband later when I have the luxury of knowing my children are safe."

* * *

Chris was starting to get a little discouraged. He hadn't been looking for Wyatt for very long, but he had found his other family members fairly quickly and so had just assumed it wouldn't be that much harder to find his older brother. Plus he had so many more good memories associated with just Wyatt than the other people in his family. He hadn't even quite realized how many good memories he had of Wyatt until now. Maybe being his younger brother wasn't such a bad thing after all.

But this was not the time for considering his own problems. He needed to focus on Wyatt.

* * *

Michael orbed into the area where the Elders gathered just in time to hear the end of Leo's latest tirade. "Don't give me the crap about 'need to know.' I'm an Elder too, and I deserve to be informed of this."

"You know as well as I do you are not a full time Elder, Leo. Your position has become almost honorary. As such-"

"Excuse me?! You weren't calling me honorary when I helped to save all of you from the Titans. You weren't calling me honorary when you told me my duty was to the greater good and that I had to leave my family!"

This was obviously going nowhere. Whatever had brought Leo here, he was obviously getting sidetracked into past issues he had with the Elders and not achieving anything. Michael decided to break in. "Excuse me. Could I talk to Leo for a moment?"

"Of course." As if the Elders would ever outright refuse Michael anything like that, but keeping up appearances kept the Elders happy and keeping them happy kept them off of Michael's back.

Michael pulled the younger whitelighter away from where the Elders sat. He mentally threw up a blockade to keep the nosier of the Elders from listening in. "What is going on Leo? I thought we agreed not to alert the Elders to what was happening until we knew more."

"That was until I found out a whitelighter delivered the body of Wyatt's girlfriend to the alley where she was found. She was murdered."

"What?" It was not often Michael was left without words.

"Exactly, and there's no way a whitelighter could do something like that without the Elders finding out somehow. They should have told me, Michael. If it affects my family, I should be kept informed."

He wouldn't say it to Leo, but Michael knew this was part of the reason that the Elders had long ago disallowed relationships between whitelighters and anyone on Earth. Things became personal, and while that worked to one's advantage sometimes, such as in the case of the Halliwells whenever one of the sisters was threatened, it often interfered with one's ability to see the big picture. He also was not about to bring up the fact that Leo himself had done certain things without the Elders knowledge. He had almost gotten married to a charge without Them knowing. "Leo, I understand your point, but you should have come to me first. If They knew something about what happened and didn't tell you, They must have had some kind of reason for doing so. The possibility that They had a bad reason for doing something like that is exactly why we decided not to ask Them about Wyatt's disappearance. Now you may have tipped our hand and made Them suspicious."

Leo sighed in frustration. "I know, I'm sorry, it's just…"

"I understand. We'll just have to deal with this and see where it leads us." He dropped his mental blockade and turned towards the Elders only to find four of the five of them facing the fifth with concern on their faces. That fifth Elder had her eyes closed like she was concentrating on something or someone. "What has happened?" Only a few things could cause those looks on the faces of the usually stoic Elders.

The fifth Elder, an African woman who was one of the few Elders that Michael respected, opened her eyes "One of my whitelighters has been killed." Michael was not sure why that caused so much concern. A whitelighter being killed was certainly a tragic occurrence, but it was part of the way of things and usually didn't merit any alarm on the part of the Elders. Then everything was made clear when the Elder went on. "He was not killed doing his job, Michael. He was killed up here in Heaven."

That was a problem. Michael mentally went through a list of all of her whitelighters. It was a little known fact among the common magical community that the Elders were not comprised of a small group of angels. There were actually a good number of them that took turns serving on the board that sat in this room to listen to the problems of whitelighters and other beings and hand out advice and/or orders. When not scheduled to be on the panel, each Elder had his or her own group of whitelighters that they personally mentored. Everyone but Leo. As much as he didn't want to hear it, his position really was mostly honorary.

The mental task only took a few seconds for Michael. One name piped out immediately. "Nelson," he breathed, looking to the Elder for confirmation. But then, something happened that made confirmation a moot point. Something terrible. Two people had just dropped off of his personal radar. Patty and Prue.


	18. Progress

It was too much to hope for that Leo wouldn't notice that the girls had disappeared. "Michael," Leo said in a tone that indicated a calm before the storm, "who did you leave my daughters with?"

"They were with Nelson. I didn't anticipate them being in any danger while in heaven." Michael looked to the Elders. "Is there anything you can tell me about how he died, Anora?"

The Elder who mentored Nelson hesitated. "From what I sensed…"

"What did you sense?" Michael asked impatiently.

"This is none of his concern," spoke up Preston, an Elder who was decidedly _not_ one of the ones Michael trusted. In fact, Michael could not stand him.

"If this affects one of my charges, it is definitely my concern."

"You don't have charges, Michael. You're not a whitelighter."

Michael put a hand on Leo's arm as a signal to let him handle the situation. "Yes, but I was put in charge of training and developing Wyatt Halliwell, and so this _is_ of my concern."

"What does Nelson's death have to do with Wyatt Halliwell?"

"I do not have the time to explain, nor do I ever have to explain myself to you Preston."

"He wouldn't have," spoke up another Elder, looking to Anora. "He promised that he had given up that crazy quest. He promised, it was part of the agreement, and he promised."

Anora looked Michael in the eye. "Obviously our trust was misplaced, for what I was about to say was that I did not sense Nelson dying by a dark lighter or anything like that. Instead, I felt that he had been killed by someone using our powers."

"Our powers?" Leo inquired, but Michael already knew what she meant, and it terrified him like nothing had in a very long time. They could not have been so stupid as to…but evidently they had.

"Elders powers, Leo. Nelson was killed using Elders powers."

* * *

Chris was getting frustrated. It felt like he had been trying to locate his brother for a long time, but he didn't seem any closer to accomplishing that. 

What he didn't realize was that he had in fact gone closer mentally to Wyatt. Joan had been trying to talk to him for the past few minutes, ever since she had no longer been able to hear what was in his mind, but was getting no response. She held onto his hands hoping that at least if he orbed out to wherever Wyatt was, she would orb with him.

Meanwhile, Chris was trying to recall any and all memories he had of Wyatt. Something had to be significant enough to trigger whatever needed to be triggered.

There was one memory he had avoided, but decided he couldn't any longer. It was one of the most embarrassing of his life. He had never been what you would call buff, and this was especially true before he hit puberty. He was about the scrawniest kid you could imagine.

His mom kept telling him that he would fill out. In the meantime, it was a daily struggle for Chris to keep himself from using his powers on the bullies who bothered him. One such time was in the sixth grade after school.

Chris had been talking to a girl, Kasey, about their math project when Gary and his band of not so merry men showed up. They had done their normal routine of harassing him and thoroughly humiliated him in front of Kasey. Then, when her mom showed up and Kasey left, Gary and his minions started getting physical. Nothing major, just shoving and the like, until Chris made the mistake of actually fighting back.

He hadn't even really meant to do it. Gary just happened to stumble over Chris' foot, and that just set off his temper. He had had his friends hold Chris and was about to pummel him when a voice came from the left. "Back off, Gary."

Chris didn't know whether to be mortified or relieved that his eighth grade brother had shown up to save him. As much as he didn't want to go home with a black eye, he also didn't want to be known as the kid who needed his older brother to save him.

"I said, back off!"

_Back off…back off…back off…_

Suddenly, Chris was no longer remembering that incident at the junior high. Instead, he was remembering some time in a cavern of what was probably hell. Actually, it wasn't really a memory because Chris couldn't recall ever having been in this place or seeing the huge demon that was in front of him.

"Back off," Wyatt said as he stepped between his brother and the demon. Wyatt didn't look like he could be more than eight years old, and yet facing off with a demon didn't seem to faze him. He gestured with his hand and sent the demon flying.

Obviously, this did not please the demon, who threw a fireball, but Wyatt managed to deflect that as well. However, he wasn't good enough yet to deflect the fireballs right back at the demon, so when they started coming faster, all Wyatt could do was deflect them as fast as possible. It looked like he was going to be overcome when two figures orbed into the cavern.

Piper comprehended the situation in a second and said the words her oldest child had probably picked up from her. "Back off!" she yelled as she threw up her hands, exploding the demon into a million pieces.

And before the memory, or whatever, could continue, suddenly Chris felt thrust into some kind of blackness. And this wasn't the kind of blackness you see when you close your eyes. This was like black hole blackness. He was about to worry about what in the heck had happened when a voice came from somewhere.

_Chris??_


	19. The ether

Chris would have whirled around, but it was like he wasn't attached to his body anymore. _Wyatt?_

_Yeah, it's me._

_Where are we?_

_Nowhere. Look, Chris-_

_Nowhere? What in the heck do you mean by that?_

_You're wherever you are and I'm wherever I am. All that we're doing right now is talking using out minds. Our bodies haven't moved._

_I don't understand. If this is possible why haven't you contacted Mom, or Dad, or even Michael? We've been really worried about you!_

_I'm a bit worried about me too._ Chris could hear his brother sigh._ Let me give you the quick rundown. I was in my car hanging out with Kelly at the park-_

_Hanging out?_

_Quiet, Chris, this will go much faster if you just listen._

_Fine, fine._

_Good. Anyway, we were hanging out when I was hit over the head._

_How did someone hit you from behind without you noticing anyone was there?_

_I was a little preoccupied, all right? Anyway, after awhile I became aware that someone was trying to keep me from gaining consciousness._

_How?_

_I'm not sure, but I think I may be able to break through whatever it is if I really try. Thing is, right now I'm not inclined to._

_Why not? Wyatt, you could orb home and then we could figure out who did this!_

_I can't for two reasons. One, I don't know what happened to Kelly. In case she is in the same place I am, I can't orb out without being absolutely sure I can get back here._

_And the second reason?_

Wyatt paused a moment before answering._ My shield is up._

_Wait, what! You haven't had that shields since you were, what, four years old?_

_Something like that. Mom and Dad always figured that I outgrew it in that I become old enough to be aware of my surroundings and judge people on my own without needing some subconscious impulse to help me._

_Then why would it come back now?_

_I'm guessing that since I'm unconscious, my subconscious has decided to kick in and protect me. For some reason though I feel like there's more to it than just that. Almost like maybe my subconscious recognizes whoever, or whatever, is out there and is reacting specifically to that threat just as it did when I was little. If it's that serious, it may be a good idea for me to lay low for a bit. Besides, I don't know whether the shield will disappear or not as soon as I wake up._

_Well, if you can just lead me to you, or whatever, and I can orb there-_

_No, Chris, if it's too dangerous for me to wake up, do you think I'm going to let you just waltz in here? Besides, I don't know if I can lead you to me. I threw up a block against everybody to keep the family and Michael from finding me for awhile-_

_I know about that._

_Well, as long as I remain unconscious, that block stays in place. I don't want to exert too much mental power, which is why I was only able to reach this kind of middle ground out here in the ether. I think whoever is trying to keep me unconscious is also keeping tabs on me, and I don't want whoever it is to know that I'm aware of what's going on. By the way, how did you get this far? I was kind of surprised to find you here._

_Yeah, well, I've always said you shouldn't underestimate me._

_I never have, Chris. You've underestimated yourself, and maybe Mom and Dad haven't given you as much credit as you deserve, though they do the same with me, but I have always believed you had great potential._

Chris was a little surprised by that, but realized he shouldn't be. _Thanks, Wyatt. Anyway, I thought that maybe you wouldn't have blocked out me along with Dad and Michael since you knew how little I used my sensing abilities. Dad, Mom, Michael, and Joan agreed it was worth a shot, so-_

_Who's Joan?_

_My whitelighter. Long story. Anyway, I kind of worked up to you, sensing the twins and Mom first, but something happened that caused Joan to have me skip trying Dad and moving straight to you. Maybe you can answer me a question I have though. When I was trying to sense you, I was concentrating on that time back in junior high when you saved me from Gary-_

_That guy's a jerk. He should be in a loony bin or something._

_Yeah, well, that's beside the point right now. As I was remembering that incident, I was suddenly thrust into a memory I don't actually remember even occurring._

_Oh, yeah? What was it?_

_I had this vision, I guess, of you saving me from some demon in hell when you were, like, eight, and Mom and Dad saving us at the last second._

_I was wondering if you were ever going to remember that._

_What! You mean it actually happened?_

_Yep. Mom was quite angry with me for going after you by myself, but she was happy we were both okay._

_Why in the world do I not remember this happening?_

_Because you were really freaked out at the time, so Mom gave you some of that memory dust stuff that Dad has so you could forget about what had happened._

_You have got to be kidding me! Have there been other times when Mom and Dad have used that stuff on me or the twins?_

_No, because you got violently sick that first time, almost like you had some sort of allergic reaction to the stuff. Dad had only heard of that happening in rare cases, but just to make sure, Mom and Dad decided to never use it on you guys again._

_How do you know all of this?_

_I remember a lot from childhood, but I also just listen when other people talk. You pick up a lot that way._

Chris had a lot to digest now, but there were more immediate concerns._ All right, if you don't want me to come to you, or if I can't, and you can't come to us, what do you propose we do?_

_Go tell Mom and Dad that you've talked to me and that I'm okay. Tell them what I've told you about what happened. Then see if Dad or Michael can meet us here, wherever here is, and we can talk about a strategy._

_Shouldn't that be easy for them to do?_

_I don't know if they will be able to, because I believe what this is is some kind of place in between places and I think Dad and Michael skip over it without much effort, so it might be difficult for them to find it, though they may be able to follow you here._

_Sounds like a plan._

_All right. I'll just wait here until- oh, shit._

_What?_

_Whoever is there has figured out a way to lower my shield. You need to talk to Michael and Dad now, Chris! Go, quickly!_

_Wait, what happened, how-_

_Without direction from me, there's only one way my shield will come down and that's if someone friendly is near. I think whoever has me knows that, because I sense the twins nearby and I think they're going to be used as way to get to me._


	20. Leo figures it out

Anora sighed as she opened her eyes. She had been sensing the area around her for any information she could glean from it, and what she had found was not encouraging. "It is as we feared." She was standing, along with Michael and Leo, over the spot where Nelson had died. She had persuaded the other Elders to let her handle the situation and left with the two before Leo could further antagonize anyone or before Preston provoked Michael into doing something he would regret later. Then again, maybe Michael wouldn't regret it.

"What 'is as we feared'? Will someone please tell what in the heck is going on?" Leo was getting tired of being ignored. This was his family for heaven's sake and people had better start giving him some answers or…well, he didn't want to think about what he would do.

"I cannot believe you would have allowed this to happen, Anora. Preston, yes. He is stupid and arrogant enough to believe that the Elders are perfect in every way, but you should have been able to talk some sense into them!" Michael was angrier than he had been in years. At first he had been terrified of what this could mean, but now that was overshadowed by his fury.

"I was not on the council at the time when the decision was made. He and Preston were old friends, so they must have waited until the time when they had a council full of Elders who thought as they did or could be bent to their will. I cannot answer as to why I did not anticipate this. I suppose I did not wish to think that my colleagues could be so blind."

Michael pinched his nose. "That is the problem with almost everyone up here. You are too blind to the faults of those around you until it is too late. When will you learn that angels or no, there is only one being who is perfect and it is most assuredly none of you!"

Leo stepped between the two. "Could the two of you stop speaking in code? I just want to know who it is that is screwing with my family!"

Michael hesitated. He knew that if Leo was thinking clearly he would have put all of the pieces together by now, but he was grateful that the other man had not. Leo went somewhat insane last time, and that was just when the future self of his son was killed, a future self that may have soon disappeared anyway due to the changes that he had made to history. Michael had no idea how Leo would react if one of his children were hurt or killed now.

Fortunately, Michael was saved by Joan and Chris orbing in. "Joan, what are the two of you doing here? Did you locate Wyatt?"

"In a manner of speaking." She looked to her young charge. "Go ahead, tell them."

Chris looked around the group. Something was wrong. His dad looked about ready to explode, Michael looked fiercer than Chris had ever seen him, and there was some woman there that he didn't remember ever seeing before. But now wasn't the time for him to ask questions. "I talked to Wyatt." He gave a quick rundown of the conversation with his brother, leaving out the parts about his memories and his parents use of memory dust. He would ask them about that later when everything had settled down.

Michael was digesting all that Chris had said when he glanced at Leo. The man looked as if someone had turned a light bulb on inside of his mind and illuminated everything clearly so that he could fully understand it. The comment about Wyatt's subconscious recognizing whoever held him must have done it. When Leo turned murderous eyes on Anora, Michael quickly cut him off, holding him back with his hands on Leo's shoulders. "Leo, you know that she is not responsible for this. You just heard her tell us that she was not there when the decision was made. You cannot blame her for this."

Leo looked at him with fury and rage, but Michael could also see immense pain behind the other emotions. "Can't I? She obviously knew what the council had done, and yet she did not warn our family." He looked over Michael's shoulder to glare at the woman. "You could have warned our family! My son is in danger from that lunatic, and now so are my daughters! They're only twelve! Do you hear me? Twelve! My God, do you have no heart? No soul!"

"You are right, Leo," Anora said softly. "We should have at least informed you of our decision as is your right as an Elder and as your right as the father of Wyatt. At the very least we should have told Michael so he could be better prepared as Wyatt's protector. We made an error in judgment and I for one am sorry."

"Sorry? Do you think it's going to be enough that you're sorry if he succeeds in his goals?"

Michael shook Leo until he was looking back at him. "Regardless of what has happened, regardless of what you want to do to the Elders, you need to focus on the here and now. We can deal with Them later after Wyatt and the twins are safe."

Leo's eyes burned with all of the hatred and pain he was feeling. "Do you swear to me that you will help me avenge the wrongs that have been done?"

"I swear that I will help you do what needs to be done." That was not exactly what Leo had asked him to swear to, but Michael was sure he would not notice the slight difference at the moment. It would suffice for later when he could remind Leo that he promised to do what needed to be done and not to "avenge" anything, for he feared that Leo's idea of vengeance at this point was little more than death and destruction.

Leo took in a deep breath. "Your word is enough for me, Michael." He threw a scathing look at Anora, then looked back to Michael. "I will get the Charmed Ones and bring them to the manor where we can discuss what to do next." At Michael's nod, Leo orbed out, seemingly a much calmer man from just a few minutes before.

Chris, on the other hand, was almost trembling. At some point Joan had sensed danger and surreptitiously moved in front of Chris. She knew what had happened with Leo years before, and she wouldn't bet her life, or that of her charge, on him staying sane enough to be able to distinguish between good and evil. She was only glad that he hadn't had this kind of power when she ticked him off all those years ago. She turned to Chris and put a hand on his arm. "Are you all right?"

Chris stared at her. "All right?" What kind of question was that anyway? He had just watched his father turn into something he couldn't comprehend. It was like he had been possessed. Had his father seriously considered murdering the woman who Chris now guessed to be an Elder? What did his father think needed to be avenged? And why did Chris feel like this all had to do with him in some strange way? "Yeah, I guess so."

Michael walked up to the two. "Joan, take him to the manor to await everyone else. I am going to talk to some people up here and will join you shortly."

Joan nodded. "Michael, do you think Leo…?" She didn't know quite how to ask the question, but Michael understood what she was trying to say anyway.

"Can Leo keep it together? Yes, I think he can, at least while his family is in danger. The last time, he did not completely lose it until his family was pretty much out of danger, and Leo has experience with working under pressure. He will be fine for now." He did not add that afterwards he may not answer the same question in the same way.

Joan just nodded again, deferring to his judgment, and orbed Chris, who was still trying to come to grips with everything he had witnessed, back to the manor.


	21. Down to business

Chris stared out the front window of the manor wondering how everything could seem so normal outside when everything in his life was in such turmoil. He couldn't believe that less than twenty-four hours ago his biggest worry was Gary and now he was dealing with something that frightened everyone from his parents to Michael and even the Elders.

"Calm down, Chris. Freaking out isn't going to help."

Chris rolled his eyes at the window before turning around to face his whitelighter. "I'm not 'freaking out,' I'm just thinking, and could you please get out of my head? It was weird enough when you were helping me with the sensing, but it's not necessary right now and that will be what freaks me out."

Joan held up her hands. "Hey, I wasn't reading your mind, just body language. I don't invade people's mental privacy without reason. Believe me, I've had my own problems with that and I don't take the issue lightly."

Chris snorted as he leaned back against the wall and folded his arms. "You've made comments like that before, but at least you had some big purpose in life and are still known centuries later. I'm nothing but the lesser son of a Charmed One."

"Should I get out my violin?"

Chris gave her a bewildered look. "What?"

"You were throwing a great pity party there, so I though maybe you would want me to pull out my violin and accompany you."

"Whatever, you have no idea-"

"I'm sure I don't, but neither do you." Joan rubber her forehead and sighed. "Look, we're both stressed out and we shouldn't have this conversation right now. Why don't I go make some tea-" But as she started to turn to head for the kitchen, she noticed little lights appearing around Chris. "Chris!" she yelled as she dived for him, hoping to latch onto him before he was pulled away, but her hand fell through air as did the rest of her and she hit the floor with a resounding thud. She tried to get her breath back as the floor had taken it away from her. Just as she was starting to get up, she heard someone orbing in behind her.

"Joan? What happened?" Leo said as he rushed over to see if he could be of any assistance.

Piper looked around the room and realized in an instant what was missing. "Where is Chris?"

* * *

One second Chris was in the manor looking at Joan, the next he was in some dilapidated attic that was so much darker it took a moment for his eyes to adjust before he could really see anything.

"Chris!" He heard someone inhale like they had just been punched in the gut, and then he was hit full force by his sisters.

"We're sorry, Chris. He said he would kill Wyatt if we didn't summon you here."

"It's okay Patty." Chris hugged his sisters, never more glad to see them in his life. Now that his eyes were adjusted, he looked up to find everyone's eyes on him. Wyatt was to his left with one guy holding his arms behind his back and another with a crossbow to his throat. It didn't take long to figure out that Wyatt had allowed himself to be put in such a vulnerable position because the girls had probably also been held at the point of what looked to be a darklighter's arrow. Chris had expected something along those lines, but it scared him a bit that demons and darklighters were apparently working together. Even though many of their goals were the same, the two types of beings did not get along, much as the rest of the Underworld.

Someone stepping out from the group to his right caught his attention and Chris turned his head in that direction. "Well, now that we're all here, we can finally get down to business."

There was something about the man that Chris felt like he should recognize, but he couldn't place him.

_I don't know who he is either, though I feel that I should_. For once Chris wasn't going to be unhappy about someone being in his head. He didn't know how Wyatt was doing it, but nothing his brother managed to do every surprised him anymore. Unfortunately, he couldn't spare the focus to talk back to Wyatt, but he did at least manage to not let on that Wyatt was speaking to him.

_I think he put some kind of ant-orbing charm or something on this place because I told the girls to leave after the arrows were pointed away from them, but they couldn't._

If that was true, maybe the direct approach was best. "You have me and Wyatt now, why don't you let the girls go?"

"Ah, I see that you have learned well from your family. It's very admirable that at such a young age you are so willing to protect those you care about. Unfortunately, I cannot reward your noble gesture by doing as you asked. Your sisters must stay here, for this time I will not leave any loose ends. There is a bigger picture at stake here and I will not let any of you risk ruining it.

"What in the hell are you talking about?"

"Language, Christopher. I'm sure you learned that particular trait from your mother."

_Calm down, Chris. This isn't Mom and Dad you're being smart with. If you tick him off he could very well kill you or one of the girls._

Chris knew that Wyatt was right, but since he couldn't count on his family or Michael finding him in time since they hadn't been able to find Wyatt, he had to try something. Maybe keeping the guy talking would at least give Wyatt enough time to think of a plan, or maybe he could contact Michael or Dad. Then there was the fact that Chris couldn't take just standing there and not saying anything. It wasn't the Halliwell way.

"If you think that's bad language, you haven't heard anything yet. Why don't you just skip all the bad guy posturing and get to the point."

The obvious leader of the group narrowed his eyes before he spoke again. "Your parents have not taught you very well if you still see good and evil as a black and white issue. What I have planned for the four of you does not make me a 'bad guy' as you so simply put it."

"Oh, yeah, abducting kids is a great thing and you're just misunderstood."

One of the demons behind the leader guy snorted as if he wanted to laugh, but it was the last thing he ever did as the man spun around and shot a lighting bolt into the demon's chest and vanquished him instantly. He eyed the rest of his group carefully. "I will not allow insubordination. You all know why you are here, so I suggest you take this seriously." He turned back towards Chris. "There has been enough talk. As you asked, let us get to the point."


	22. Crappy plans and painful plans

"Great. I'm all ears."

"The point to all of this is, you need to die."

Even though Chris had expected something along those lines, it was still creepy to hear the guy say it out loud. And he knew it was freaking his sisters out by the way they were practically cracking his ribs with the strength of their hold on him. Maybe he shouldn't have goaded they guy and instead let him ramble. Wait, that was a plan, just keep him talking. It was a crappy plan, but a plan nonetheless. "And why exactly do I need to die?"

"The you was plural my boy. I once believed Wyatt was the only one who needed to be taken care of," the guy walked over to where Wyatt was being held and looked the younger man in the eye. Wyatt didn't even blink and at that moment Chris didn't care anymore that Wyatt always seemed to do everything, because if he could get them all out alive Chris would be happy for every power his brother had ever received. Unfortunately, Wyatt wasn't Superman and couldn't shoot lasers out of his eyes, so the crazy guy who had brought them all here was able to continue his spiel. "But now I think it would be best that all of you are dealt with. Four lives is a small price to pay for saving life as we know it."

Why wasn't Wyatt doing anything? He wasn't even talking in Chris' head anymore. It wasn't like Wyatt to be silent at a time like this…which meant Wyatt had to be doing something. Maybe trying to contact Mom and Dad or Michael. Well, the least Chris could do was keep the crazy guy distracted. "How is killing us going to save 'life as we know it'? We're just kids! Unless cutting class and staying out past curfew are the harbingers of the Apocalypse now."

Psycho, as Chris was starting to think of him, paced over to stand in front of the three siblings huddled together. "It is not what you are now, but what you will be that threatens everything. I should never have allowed you to be born, but I am cleaning up that mistake now."

"Allowed…wait a sec…" Chris was startled that Wyatt was now contributing to the conversation. "You can't be…Dad killed you!"

Psycho sneered. "Yes, he did, but as you all should know, death is not always final when magic is involved." He stalked back over to where Wyatt was standing. "So, your parents told you about me, did they?"

"No, they didn't." Chris couldn't help the irrational bit of relief he felt at there not being one more thing his parents had confided in one son and not the other. That feeling was quickly followed by one of self-disgust at even caring about something like that in a time like this.

"Really? Don't tell me you remember everything. You were, what, a year old?"

"About. I put a few things together and asked around. I've done a few favors here and there and some felt they owed me the information I wanted."

"I didn't realize the knowledge was well known." The Psycho seemed somehow bothered by that idea. "I was under the impression a story had been given out to dissuade people of that notion."

"Things like that can't be kept under wraps." Wyatt cocked his head a little. "Why would you care about what others know about the past? You were dead, which means other's opinion of you wouldn't matter, and since you're evil now why would you worry about what good beings think of you?"

"**I AM NOT EVIL!**"

Chris snorted. He probably shouldn't have since Wyatt seemed to have the situation under control and Chris was the one who was standing with the girls, but he couldn't help it. They guy had kidnapped four kids and declared the need to kill them and had aligned with demons and darklighters to do it. How much more evil could a guy get?

Unfortunately, Psycho heard the snort and sent a lightning bolt right above Chris' head, close enough he felt the heat. If his ribs weren't cracked before, they certainly were now as the girls screamed and held him tighter. "You sniveling little brat! How dare you act that way towards me!"

Since he had already attracted the guy's attention, he figured he might as well keep it and allow Wyatt more time to try and break through whatever charms were around this room that were keeping the group from being located. "How dare I? You do realize how ridiculous you sound, right?"

Psycho stalked towards Chris with a look in his eyes that had Chris quickly disentangling himself from his sisters and pushing them behind him. He was sure he had pushed the guy too far this time, but just as he had the random thought that putting the girls behind him wasn't going to help them since a lightning bolt would either blow a hole through him and hit them as well, or it would electrocute all three of them at once, Psycho seemed to pull himself together. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. When his eyes opened the spark of insanity in them seemed to have died down a bit.

"I will not rush my plan, no matter how infuriating you may be. Too much is riding on the success of this endeavor to be hasty now. But do not mock me again, boy, or I will kill one of your sisters first and you will go to the afterlife with the image of her death on your conscience."

Chris' mind was running a mile a minute. How would killing them right now mess up the guy's plan? He already said that the entire plan was to kill them, so how could killing them screw with that? It was like one of those infuriating word problems in math class. _Think it through_, he told himself. He didn't say he didn't want to kill them, just not right now. Why would he need to wait? Were they not his real goal? But they couldn't be after anyone else since he had amassed a lot of magic to keep Dad and Michael from being able to locate them all. So there had to be another reason he needed to wait…

_He could be dead or seriously hurt, Leo! How can the Elders send him away on these missions and not let us know where he is? How can they keep his location from you?_

_Because they don't want us to interfere, Piper. If we got anxious and followed him we could mess up whatever he's doing._

_He's a teenager, Leo! What in heaven's name could he be doing that we can't help him with?_

_I don't know, Piper. And the fact that I can't sense him is a good thing, remember? I told you before, if you or your sisters or one of the kids is seriously hurt or worse, I can feel that no matter what. I will feel the pain and I can follow that straight to Wyatt if need be. We won't lose him, I promise._

That long ago overheard conversation went through Chris' head in an instant. Maybe…maybe Psycho couldn't kill them yet because he knew death wouldn't be instantaneous and that as soon as he really hurt any of them, Michael or Dad or even Paige or Joan for that matter would be able to sense them and orb straight in and save the day. He must be waiting for something, or someone, before killing them. Something that would either kill them in a way that they couldn't be brought back whether or not they were found, or something that would keep them from being found when they were killed.

He was willing to bet it was the latter based on Psycho's reaction to Wyatt's musings. This guy seemed like he had more in mind than just killing them. It was possible he thought he could regain whatever position he had lost before, that what he saw as a selfless act would somehow endear him to others. Chris might have misgivings about the Elders ingrained into him by his mother, but even he knew the idea that the Elders would be okay with the murders of four children was completely and utterly insane, but he doubted he was going to convince Psycho about that.

Well, then there was only one course of action Chris could see. If he could get someone in the room to attack him before whatever Psycho needed was in place, then Dad could find them all and save the day. It was a very painful plan, but it was the best one he had. He couldn't just stand and wait for something to happen. He just hoped that someone got there in time, because he really didn't want to die. Either way, maybe now his family would see him as worth something.

Without giving himself time to think on it anymore or give Wyatt time to notice what Chris was thinking, the younger son of a Charmed One and an Elder stepped forward and sneered right back at his psychotic kidnapper. "Not if I kill you first." Before the older man could react, Chris TK'ed him across the room. Almost instantaneously he felt multiple arrows pierce his flesh and possible an energy ball singe his left shoulder. The last things he remembered were the screams of his sisters and the primal yell of his older brother before he collapsed and hit his head on the floor and then everything was black.


	23. To heaven and back again

The pain was bad.

Actually, it was so much more than bad that it wasn't in the same galaxy as bad, but Chris had no conscious thought beyond the pain and the wish that it was over. And then, abruptly, it was.

All of a sudden, Chris was fine. His mind didn't go any farther than being happy about the lack of pain for a moment. But then his brain kicked in, he opened his eyes and just like that he was no longer so thrilled about the pain being gone. That was because he was no longer in the room with the bad guys which was good, but he was also no longer with his brother and sisters, which was bad. Instead, he had found himself surrounded by a kind of mist or cloud that he could only see through for a couple feet.

"Crap. This can't be good," he muttered.

"You're right, it's not."

Chris whirled around. "Joan!"

The whitelighter smiled slightly. "Hey, Chris. I'm happy to see dying hasn't affected your memory." She inwardly winces at making a quip at this kind of time, but her sarcasm was such an ingrained part of her it was hard to suppress it even when she should.

Chris paled. "I was afraid that was why I was here." He swallowed. "Just tell me, did you guys save Wyatt and Patty and Prue?"

Joan looked down and then back up at Chris. "Truthfully, I don't know for sure, but I assume so."

"You assume! Joan, the whole reason I did what I did was to save them!"

"I know, and you parents and aunts and Michael went after them, but I knew from Leo's brief description what you must have done, so I decided to take a page out of your dad's book and came up here to stop you before it was too late."

Chris had never been so confused. "Stop me…from doing what? I've already died."

Joan opened her mouth to reply but before she said anything she turned her head as if she heard something. "Damn. Frank must be on duty." She turned back to Chris and held out her hands, palms up. "Put your hands over mine, Chris."

Okay, he was setting all kinds of records for being confused because now he was even more lost than he had been before. "What? Why-"

Joan broke out her command voice. "Just do what I say, Chris, and give me your damn hands!"

Chris didn't hesitate a moment longer and put his palms over Joan's. Immediately a warm glow emanated from between their hands. One second he was looking into Joan's eyes, the next he was in his mother's arms.

And the pain was back.

"ARRRRRGH!"

"Chris!" Piper immediately laid her younger son back down on the floor and then looked up at her youngest sister who was consoling Patty. "Paige! He's back! You have to heal him!"

Before Piper had finished her words, Paige was kneeling next to Chris and beginning to heal him.

Chris gradually became aware of his mom holding his hand and talking to him as the pain slowly subsided due to Paige's ministrations. When the sharp pain was gone and only the muscle aches that always resulted from the healing a serious wound were left, Chris was finally able to open his eyes and blink away the tears that the extreme pain had brought on. "Hi, Mom."

Piper smiled through her tears that were now a result of happiness rather than grief. "Hey," she managed to choke out as she stroked his hair.

Patty and Prue quickly rushed over and grabbed onto Chris' arm. "Chris! You're back! How are you back? I can't believe you did that! We were so scared! You were amazing! We thought you were dead!" The girls were speaking so fast and on top of another to the point that Chris couldn't tell who was saying what, but he got the gist of what they were saying.

"I _was_ dead." He looked back at his mother. "Joan saved me, Mom. She said she was taking a page out of Dad's book. Do you know what she meant?"

Piper's eyes widened and she looked up at Phoebe and Paige before turning back to Chris. "I didn't think anyone knew about that. It was a long time ago."

Chris was about to ask for more explanation when he glanced around and saw that his sisters and aunts were crowded around him, but Wyatt and Leo were nowhere to be seen. "Mom, where's Dad? And Wyatt?"

Piper looked up at her sisters. "Oh, no. We somehow need to get to Leo and let him know Chris is all right."

Chris started to sit up and Piper gave him a hand. "Where did Dad go?"

"I don't know, Chris. When he saw that you were dead he took off after the bad guys who had left as soon as we orbed in. Wyatt and Michael followed him."

"We need to find them, Mom."

"You can't." Everyone looked over, startled to find Joan standing there. "They are bouncing unbelievably fast all over the planet, the Underworld, and even other planes. I can't even get a message to Michael they're moving so fast."

"Well, then what do we do?" Piper asked her. It was amazing that mere hours ago- had it been only hours?- Piper had been skeptical of Joan's abilities and now she was looking to her for guidance. Saving her son from death had pretty much made Joan a saint in Piper's eyes.

Joan smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I think I know a way, but we need to move quickly. If Leo catches him, he may go farther than anyone can pull him back from."


	24. The floating heads

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"Do you have a better idea?" Joan asked Piper.

"Uh, where are we?" Chris was glad Patty asked the question because he felt like he had been asking questions like that too much lately and he was getting tired of it.

"Not important right now," Joan said. "We don't have time for explanations. Di! Ecce hora! Uxor mea me necabit!"

Four giant floating heads suddenly appeared around them. "Who has summoned the Tribunal and for what purpose?"

"Hey guys," Joan said with the fake smile people always have when they know the people they are talking to probably won't be happy to see them.

"Joan!" said another of the floating heads. "I thought you promised to stay out of trouble and stop bothering us."

"Well, technically this time it isn't me that is causing the trouble," she admitted in an attempt to placate them. "There's a…situation happening and I think you guys are the only ones who can stop it before everything spirals out of control."

Chris thought she was layering on the flattery a bit thick, but the floating heads seemed to be buying it so who was he to complain. "What is this situation?" asked a head that had yet to speak.

"The Elders have released one of their former brethren and that ex-Elder is now attempting to slaughter the children of a Charmed One."

"Ex-Elder? Are you kidding me?" Piper was rapidly losing control as she finally realized the full extent of the situation and Phoebe came over to try and calm her down. "Don't even, Phoebe," the older sister said with a hand up. "I think I have a right to rant about how a group of supposedly good beings have released a man who _murdered_ my _son_!"

_Whoa…what? Murdered her son?_ But…he didn't have any other brothers and there was no way they could have made him forget something like that. No amount of memory dust could wipe away every trace of a sibling. Could it? There was something else, something his father had said that day that he couldn't quite remember. He wish he had more time to think and put all the pieces together that he had found out about in such a short period of time, but he wasn't going to get that time right now.

"Piper, you have every right to rant," Joan agreed, "just not right now, okay?" Piper opened her mouth, then looked at her children and thought better of it and shut it again. Joan inwardly gave a sigh of relief. They really didn't have time for Piper to blow her top. Turning back to the four giant floating heads, she addressed them again. "So, guys, can you help us out by bringing everyone here and hashing all this out?"

The four glanced at each other and seemed to come to a consensus. "Sure, why not?" said one of them. Instantly Leo, Wyatt, and Psycho appeared in front of them.

"Where's-" Before Chris could even finish the question in orbed, "Michael." _Dude_, he thought, _not even this tribunal can summon Michael? Impressive._

Leo threw up a hand to strike his quarry with a lightning bolt, but nothing happened. Chris figured the tribunal area, wherever it was, was protected against magic being used unless allowed in order to conduct business in an orderly fashion. Undeterred, Leo went for the other man with arms outstretched obviously intent on strangling him. "You BASTARD!"

One of the giant heads nodded slightly and suddenly Leo was frozen as if Piper had used her powers. But now it was Piper that had to be held back from attacking Psycho by Phoebe and Paige. "You slimy, traitorous, lying-" It became a bit chaotic as the sisters tried to calm Piper and the twins started understandably freaking out at the state of their parents and Joan tried to yell over everyone and calm the situation.

"ENOUGH!" bellowed Michael. This time he didn't need to make everyone else incapable of speech, they were all stunned enough by his voice alone to fall quiet. Even the giant floating heads seemed to be paying strict attention to whatever Michael was about to say. He looked up to the tribunal. "I am assuming Joan summoned the four of you to work out this situation?" The heads solemnly nodded. "All right. As always, I will not interfere with this tribunal's workings unless needed." He waved a hand in Leo's direction and Leo was orbed out and then into a seat that appeared behind a table. "Leo can now speak and move his head, but nothing more for the time being and I expect him to act calmly or I will take that away as well, is that understood?"

Leo wasn't happy with that idea, but nevertheless he agreed with a grudging nod. "Good, now everyone else sit in that general area," Michael continued, gesturing to the other chairs. "Except you," he said, pointing at Psycho. "You breathe wrong and I will send you somewhere that there will be no coming back from," the angel said in a voice that was scarier than his yelling had been. Chris could tell that while Psycho didn't want to admit that Michael intimidated him, he was pretty pale at this point.

Michael looked up at the four heads above him. "Now, I think this tribunal can begin."


End file.
